GOLF ROUNDUP : Daly Retains Two-Shot Lead

John Daly overcame an early bogey-double bogey stretch to shoot a three-under-par 69 and retain a two-shot lead over Brian Henninger in the third round of the BellSouth Classic Saturday at Marietta, Ga.

Daly had a 54-hole total of 202, 14 shots under par on the hilly, 7,018-yard Atlanta Country Club course.

Four others, including Tom Kite and defending champion Nolan Henke, were four shots off the pace.

Kite eagled the final hole for a 68, Henke shot 69, David Peoples 68 and Blaine McCallister 69, leaving them all tied at 206. Kite’s eagle came after he hit his three-iron eight feet from the hole.

Daly stretched his lead to three shots when he birdied the second hole but then got into trouble. He bogeyed the par-three third and took six shots on the par-four fourth.

Daly got one shot back when he birdied the sixth and then started the back side with consecutive birdie putts of 20 feet on 10 and 11.

“The front nine was a little shaky,” Daly said, noting the birdie on the sixth hole saved him. “It was solid after that.”

Henninger, 30, the Hogan Tour player of the year two years ago, had birdies on Nos. 6, 12 and 14, his last a 10-footer that moved him into a share of the lead.

There was a two-shot swing on the par-three 16th when Daly rolled in a 30-footer for birdie and Henninger blasted out of a trap eight feet short and missed his par putt.

Both Daly and Henninger, who also shot 69, birdied the par-five final hole with two putts.

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Dale Douglass and Charles Coody, who teamed to win the 1990 Legends of Golf tournament, shot an 11-under-par 61 to grab a two-shot lead in the team-format tournament at Austin, Tex.

Their 124 put them two strokes ahead of the teams of Bob Murphy and Jim Colbert and Chi Chi Rodriguez and Jim Dent in the $1.1-million two-man, better-ball event.

Lee Trevino and Mike Hill, the winning team in 1991 and 1992, were three shots off the lead at 17-under 127.

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Gail Graham moved into contention with an eight-under-par 64 for a two-day total of 137 before heavy rain cut short the second round of the $525,000 Sara Lee Classic at Nashville, Tenn.

Leader Jane Crafter, at eight-under after 18 holes, and defending champion Meg Mallon and Laura Davies, both at seven-under, had just teed off when officials stopped play because of a thunderstorm over the Hermitage Golf Course.