GOLF ROUNDUP : Keppler Ties Gallagher for Lead

Stephen Keppler is a well-traveled 34-year-old Briton who played college golf at Florida State, couldn’t cut it on the European PGA Tour and learned the local vernacular after he took a club pro job near Atlanta to make ends meet.

“I got a big ol’ knot in my stomach,” he said after finishing a five-under-par 67 with a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 18 at the Atlanta Country Club. “I looked up at the leader board on 17 and saw my name up there. I said, ‘Wow! This must be a mistake.’ ”

No mistake. It’s there with Jim Gallagher Jr., whose 68 also brought him to 13-under 203 through three rounds of the BellSouth Classic and to a pairing with Keppler in today’s final round. The two played against each other in college, but “I haven’t seen Stephen in 12 or 13 years,” said Gallagher, who has enjoyed much more success than Keppler, including a victory two weeks ago at Greensboro, N.C.

“It will be nerve-racking,” Keppler said of teeing off today as a co-leader. “I never imagined this in my wildest dreams.”

John Daly did.

Daly, the defending champion, had started the day with a one-shot lead, but managed only a 71 that left him tied for third at 205 with Guy Boros and Mark Calcavecchia.

He applauded Keppler, who had a string of four birdies that started on No. 12.

“I love it and think it’s great,” Daly said. “They’re (club pros) the hardest-working pro in golf. They don’t get the recognition.”

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Bob Murphy finished his round eagle-birdie-birdie to help him overcome a two-hole lapse and shoot a six-under-par 66 for a two-round total of 10-under 134. It left him with a one-shot lead over Larry Ziegler and Graham Marsh in the PaineWebber Invitational senior event at the TPC at Piper Glen Course in Charlotte, N.C.

Murphy had six birdies and the eagle in his round, which helped overcome bogeys on Nos. 12 and 13. The trouble on the 13th hole probably was engendered by noise from a golf cart driven by someone from ESPN, Murphy’s former employer.

“In the middle of last summer, little distractions like what happened today, I would be fussing and moaning about it for four holes,” Murphy said. “I told myself that’s everything that I said I wasn’t going to do. I was going to come out and play and enjoy and laugh.”

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Laura Davies’ three-under-par 69 brought a two-day total of 11-under 133 and a one-shot lead over Michelle McGann in the LPGA Sara Lee Classic at the Hermitage Golf Course in Nashville, Tenn.

McGann, who has never won on the tour, set a record Saturday with nine birdies, one more than the previous tournament mark. Her five birdies in a row tied a record.