GOLF : Nicolette Leads Conner by One

Mike Nicolette shot a two-under-par 68 Saturday to maintain a one-shot lead over Frank Conner heading into the final round of the Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic.

Nicolette is at 12-under-par 198 after three rounds over the par-70, 6,280-yard Hattiesburg Country Club course. He had three birdies and one bogey as winds gusted to 24 m.p.h.

Conner, who has played in the same group with Nicolette in each round of the tournament, stayed even with the leader with his own 68 for 199.

Four players are at 201, including tour rookie Dudley Hart. Jerry Haas, Greg Ladehoff and Fred Funk are also in the group that is three strokes back of the leader.

Nicolette, whose only PGA Tour victory was the 1983 Bay Hill Classic in a playoff with Greg Norman, made the turn after the first nine Saturday at one-under 34. He scrambled for par on No. 9 by getting within 12 feet on a shot from the lip of a bunker.

Nicolette’s only bogey came on the par-four, 380-yard 13th hole when his approach missed the green. He birdied the par-five, 512-yard 17th with an 18-foot putt, but had a short birdie putt at the 18th lip out of the cup.

Conner is seeking his first tour victory since the 1988 Deposit Guaranty Classic.