GOLF ROUNDUP : Colbert, Thompson Maintain Advantage

Jim Colbert and Rocky Thompson both stumbled on the final hole Saturday and were tied for the lead at seven-under-par 209 after three rounds of the Senior Players Championship at Dearborn, Mich.

Each shot a two-under-par 70. Colbert took a double-bogey on the par-four 18th hole, and Thompson had a bogey.

“It’s nice to be right there,” said Thompson, seeking his first victory since 1991. “It would have been nicer to have birdied the 18th. That would have been a two-stroke lead. But, I just hope to stay in the hunt.”

Colbert and Thompson are one shot ahead of Bob Charles, who also shot 70 at the Tournament Players Club of Michigan, a 6,876-yard Jack Nicklaus-designed course in the shadow of Ford Motor Co. world headquarters. Ford is sponsor of the event, one of the senior majors.

Ray Floyd, Isao Aoki and Jim Ferree were tied at 211. Ferree shot 70, Floyd and Aoki 71.

Colbert, winner of the Royal Caribbean Classic in February and ranked seventh on this year’s money list, started the round in a three-way tie for the lead with Thompson and Jim Albus at five-under 139.

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Corey Pavin put a bunker shot to within six feet of the 18th hole to avoid squandering a three-stroke lead for a second time and take a one-stroke advantage into the final round of the Greater Hartford Open at Cromwell, Conn.

With wind gusting to 20 m.p.h., Pavin double-bogeyed the 17th hole after a chip shot from a ravine caught on the fringe. After narrowly missing a 15-foot putt, he missed a three-footer coming back.

“I was a little surprised with Corey’s double-bogey,” said Nick Price, who was a stroke back after shooting 69. “From that distance, you don’t see him take four to get down too often.”

Pavin, who started the day at eight under, made the six-foot putt on the 18th hole to complete a three-over 73 and was at five-under 205 for three rounds.

Price and Don Pooley, who shot a 66, were a shot back at 206 after 54 holes over the 6,280-yard Tournament Players Club at River Highlands. Seven players, including two-time Hartford runner-up Dan Forsman and Roger Maltbie, were at three under.

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Shelley Hamlin overcame a bogey-bogey start to shoot a second consecutive four-under-par 67 and grab a three-shot lead over Beth Daniel heading into today’s final round of the ShopRite LPGA Classic at Somers Point, N.J.

Hamlin’s eight-under-par 134 for two rounds tied the tournament record set in 1988 by Daniel, and it gave her a lot of breathing room on the wind-swept Greate Bay Country Club course.

Missie McGeorge, Amy Benz and Danielle Ammaccapane are four shots behind the leader.