GOLF ROUNDUP : Lopez Shoots a 69 to Take One-Shot Lead

Nancy Lopez hardly looked like someone who had not played a tournament in nearly five months Friday while taking the lead of the inaugural LPGA Tournament of Champions at the Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, Fla.

Taking advantage of a break in the weather, Lopez shot a three-under-par 69 to overtake struggling Betsy King.

Lopez’s 54-hole total of par 216 left her one shot ahead of King, who began the third round with a four-stroke advantage over Lopez, Dawn Coe-Jones and Dottie Mochrie.

“I feel confident, comfortable and calm,” said Lopez, who had not played a competitive round since October. “That’s unusual for me early in the year.

“I thought I hit the ball well, and I felt good over my putts. I’ve been working hard this week, trying to get that comfortable feeling again.”

First-day leader Lauri Merten rebounded from a second-round 78 to shoot 70. She is three back at 219, followed by Coe-Jones (73) and Donna Andrews (71) at 220.

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Larry Nelson scored an eagle three on the way to a back nine of 29 that lifted him into a one-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Doral-Ryder Open in Miami.

But the former U.S. Open and PGA champion was so caught up in his string of seven threes over his last nine holes that he was unaware of how far he had advanced.

“I kind of got lost in the round, and I didn’t know whether I was five, six or seven under,” he said.

He was eight under, shooting a 64 that left him seven under for the tournament. He is a stroke ahead of three golfers at 137.

Nick Faldo, making his first U.S. start of the year, missed the cut by one stroke after pulling a wedge shot into the water on his final hole and shooting a 76.