Nicklaus and Mickelson share lead

Jack Nicklaus' son Gary shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday and grabbed a share of the lead with Phil Mickelson after the third round of the BellSouth Classic in Duluth, Georgia.

"Keep calm and be patient," the 31-year-old Nicklaus said of his approach to the final round in his quest to win his first US PGA Tour title. His previous best finish was a tie for 28th at this year's Honda Classic.

Mickelson had a third-round 69 that left the leaders at 11-under 205 for three trips around the hills of the 7,259-yard TPC at Sugarloaf course.

They held a two-shot lead over Kenny Perry and Harrison Frazar, who both posted 70s.

Second-round leader Joey Sindelar never got anything going despite an eagle 3 at the 541-yard fourth and shot a 74. He was tied at 208 with Jay Don Blake, 69, Tom Pernice Jr, 69, and Steve Jones, 70.

Mickelson held the lead alone for most of the back nine until missing a short par putt at the 17th green, allowing Nicklaus to move into a share of the lead.

Neither was able to birdie the par 5 finishing hole, with Mickelson getting par when he failed to chip up a slight hill to the green with his third shot, then two-putted.

Nicklaus lipped out an 8-foot birdie putt at the final hole.

Nicklaus got off to a slow start with bogeys on two of his first three holes. He got those shots back with birdies at 4 and 7, then chipped in from 25 feet for a birdie at No 10, the first of four consecutive birdies.

Mickelson got off to a good start with a birdie at the first hole. He added birdies at Nos 4 and 5 before chipping in for another at the eighth. He lost a shot at nine when he caught water, but salvaged a bogey when he chipped in.

His only birdie on the back side came at the 12th with a 4-foot putt.

Scores from the third round of the $2.8 million BellSouth Classic, played on the 7,259-yard (6,606-meter), par-72 TPC at SugarLoaf in Duluth, Georgia:

Gary Nicklaus 68-69-68-205 Phil Mickelson 67-69-69-205 Harrison Frazar 69-68-70-207 Kenny Perry 67-70-70-207 Steve Jones 67-71-70-208 Joey Sindelar 68-66-74-208 John Huston 68-67-73-208 Jay Don Blake 67-72-69-208 Tom Pernice Jr 73-66-69-208 Steve Flesch 73-67-69-209 Blaine McCallister 67-70-72-209 Stewart Cink 71-71-67-209 Dicky Pride 73-68-68-209 Chris Perry 71-69-69-209 Gabriel Hjertstedt 68-71-71-210 Brian Henninger 68-70-72-210 Paul Stankowski 66-70-74-210 Trevor Dodds 73-68-69-210 David Toms 71-69-70-210 David Peoples 68-73-69-210 Franklin Langham 74-67-69-210 Tom Scherrer 68-71-72-211 Jean Van De Velde 67-70-74-211 Brian Watts 71-72-68-211 Robin Freeman 75-68-68-211 Brandt Jobe 69-70-72-211 Scott Gump 70-72-69-211 Barry Cheesman 70-70-71-211 Jay Delsing 71-69-71-211 Dave Stockton 68-69-75-212 Bob Burns 70-74-68-212 Brian Gay 73-71-68-212 Jerry Kelly 72-71-69-212 Mark Wiebe 71-68-73-212 Greg Norman 71-73-68-212 Bob Heintz 72-69-71-212 David Sutherland 69-72-72-213 Mike Springer 70-71-72-213 Miguel Angel Jimenez 71-71-71-213 Brent Geiberger 71-70-72-213 Charles Raulerson 70-73-70-213 Nick Faldo 72-71-70-213 Kevin Sutherland 70-70-73-213 Len Mattiace 69-71-73-213 Jose Maria Olazabal 71-72-70-213 Ben Bates 72-71-70-213 Jimmy Green 72-71-70-213 Bill Glasson 70-69-74-213

Selected Others

Bob Tway 73-68-73-214 Paul Azinger 69-75-70-214 Jim Gallagher 74-68-73-215 Corey Pavin 72-69-74-215 David Frost 71-71-73-215 Steve Elkington 73-71-73-217 Justin Leonard 72-72-73-217 David Duval 73-69-77-219