GOLF ROUNDUP : Floyd Leads, Nicklaus is Charging

Ray Floyd shot a five-under-par 67 and leads Jim Colbert by one stroke going into the final round of the PGA Seniors Championship, but Jack Nicklaus has Floyd’s attention.

“If Jack keeps hitting the ball the way he is, and keeps on putting, lo and behold, we’re all in trouble,” Floyd said after completing third-round play Saturday on the Champions course at the PGA Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Nicklaus seemed out of contention after he shot a 76 on Thursday, but he followed it with rounds of 66 and 68 and is three strokes back.

Floyd’s 54-hole total of 207 would have been only a one-stroke lead, but Colbert whiffed a putt on the 18th green.

Colbert was standing over an 8-10 foot birdie putt when, he said, “someone dropped a cup of ice” in the temporary stands, “and there was a lot of stirring around.

“I got distracted and just flat whiffed the putt,” he said after finishing with a 71 and a 209 total.

Floyd, Colbert and Nicklaus will be in the final threesome today, a group that seemed highly unlikely two days ago.

“After starting with a 76, if somebody had told me I’d be in the last threesome Sunday, I’d have asked him what it was he was smoking,” Nicklaus said.

After hitting only six fairways and 10 greens in his wild 66 in the second round, Nicklaus played much more conventionally.

“A different guy showed up,” he said.

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Mark McCumber, David Edwards and David Frost led an assault on Harbour Town Golf Links and shared the lead after three rounds of the MCI Classic at Hilton Head Island, S.C..

McCumber had a 64 and Edwards and Frost posted 66s and all were at eight-under-par 205 along with first-round co-leader Gene Sauers, who had a 69.

“Everything that felt so crummy on Thursday felt just great today,” said McCumber, who made birdies on four of five holes on the back nine. “This is the kind of golf course that if you really get it going good, you can shoot 64.”

Or 62 as Gil Morgan did, falling a stroke short of the course record and moving into a group at 206 that included Tom Watson, Payne Stewart and Scott Hoch. Twenty-six players are within three strokes of the lead.

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Nicole Jeray shot a career-best 67 and took a one-stroke lead over Liselotte Neumann of Sweden after two rounds of the Pinewild Championship at Pinehurst, N.C.

Jeray, a second-year pro whose highest finish has been 26th, is at six-under 138.

Jeray, Neumann, who shot a 69 for 139, and Missie McGeorge, with two 70s, make up the final group.