Golf Roundup : Erratic Stewart Gains Share of Series Lead

PGA champion Payne Stewart overcame the potential disaster of a double bogey to move into a three-way tie for the third-round lead Saturday in the World Series of Golf at Akron, Ohio.

Stewart had an erratic 68--six birdies, two bogeys, a double bogey--on the Firestone Country Club course and finished 54 holes at 207, three under par.

He was tied with Paul Azinger, who shot 67, and David Frost, who shot a 69, but quickly pointed out that “a lot of guys have a chance to win this; certainly everybody on the board there.”

Stewart gestured to a leaderboard that showed nine players under par, including Ben Crenshaw, Australia’s Greg Norman and defending champion Mike Reid.

Norman, a winner last week in Castle Rock, Colo., Crenshaw, and Jones, the only three-time winner on the American tour this year, were a stroke off the lead at 208, two under par.

Jones had a 69, and Norman matched par with a 70. Crenshaw, who led through the first two rounds, had his second consecutive 72.

Reid was tied at 209 with Corey Pavin and Larry Mize. Pavin had a third-round 68; Reid and Mize shot 70s.

Stewart was three under par after six holes and appeared ready to pull away from the pack until he bogeyed the seventh and chopped up the eighth.

After driving into the rough on No. 8, he hit into a greenside bunker, overshot the green and made double bogey.

That dropped him back to even for the day, and he had to make a 45-foot putt to save par on the ninth. He played the back nine in 33, making a 15-footer on the 15th to regain a share of the lead.

Brian Mogg, boosted by an ace at the 201-yard seventh hole, turned in a seven-under-par 63 to become the leader in the clubhouse at 10 under par before lightning and rain suspended third-round play at the $500,000 Hamilton County-Chattanooga tournament at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Mogg, who set a course record with a front nine of six-under-par 29, was one of 36 golfers in the field of 83 to complete the third round.

Ted Schultz, the 36-hole leader at 11 under, parred his first two holes before play was suspended.

PGA officials announced the third round will be picked up this morning with the final round of the 72-hole tournament to follow.

Betsy King , a five-time winner this season, rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to take a one-shot lead after the third round of the $265,000 LPGA World Championship tournament at Buford, Ga.

King shot a two-under par 70 for a 54-hole score of 207, nine shots under par on the hilly, 6,107-yard Pine Isle Resort course.

Pat Bradley and second-round leader Patty Sheehan are tied for second. Bradley made the big charge of the day, shooting a 68. Sheehan had a 72.

Dottie Mochrie pitched in a 96-yard wedge shot for an eagle on the 14th hole en route to a five-under 67 and a share of the lead at 140 with Tina Barrett after two rounds of the LPGA Ocean State Open at Cranston, R.I. Barrett shot a 73.

Bob Charles, seeking his third consecutive victory in this event, shot a three-under-par 69 and held a one-stroke lead over Charles Coody and Jim Dent after two rounds of the Charley Pride Senior tournament at Albuquerque, N.M..

Charles has a 36-hole total of nine-under 135. Coody, who began the day tied with Charles for the lead after an opening 66, struggled to a 70 whereas Dent matched Charles’ 69.