GOLF ROUNDUP : Love Leads by Three in Bid for Heritage III

Defending champion Davis Love III birdied four of the last six holes on Saturday to take a three-stroke lead after three rounds in the Heritage Classic at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Love, trying to become the first golfer to win the Heritage three times and the second to gain back-to-back titles, shot his third consecutive four-under-par 67 for a 54-hole total of 12-under 201.

Love, who also won the Heritage in 1987, has led or been tied for the lead in six of the last seven rounds at Harbour Town Golf Links. The one time he wasn’t on top, he was one stroke behind.

Mark O’Meara, who birdied the first three holes to take a three-stroke lead but played the back side in one over par, was alone in second after a 70 that left him at 204.

Chip Beck, who was tied for first with Love and O’Meara going into Saturday’s action, shot 71 and is third at 205.

Two-thirds of a Hall of Fame threesome floundered, opening the gate to a new set of challengers to Lee Trevino in the final round of the PGA Seniors Championship at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

While Trevino shot a third-round 71, good enough to retain a three-shot lead, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player drifted back into the pack.

Nicklaus, the defending champion, shot a two-over-par 74 and Player, a three-time winner of this event, had a 75. They were tied at 215, eight off the pace at PGA National.

“I don’t think Jack was feeling very good,” Trevino said. “I think his back was bothering him. He was quitting on shots, spinning out.

“That’s very unusual.”

The decline of Nicklaus and Player provided an opening to last-round challenges by Mike Hill (67), Dave Stockton (68) and Chi Chi Rodriguez (68), tied for second at 210, three behind Trevino’s leading 207.

Deb Richard shot a one-under-par 71, but her lead in the SEGA Women’s Championship at Stockbridge, Ga., was cut to two shots by fast-closing Dottie Mochrie.

Richard, who had only three bogeys in the first two rounds, had a double-bogey six on the 17th.

Mochrie, winner of the Dinah Shore last month, surged into second place with an eagle on the final hole for a four-under-par 68.

Richard had a 54-hole score of 205 over the 6,177-yard Eagle’s Landing Country Club c ourse.