Betsy King Classic
A third round four-under-par 68 put England's Laura Davies bang in contention at the LPGA Betsy King Classic in Pennsylvania, but a bout of sloppy putting left her feeling far from happy.
Davies missed an opportunity to take the lead when she three-putted the eleventh and eighteenth holes.
She is winless on the LPGA Tour this season, and her last victory was the Standard Register Ping Classic in March, 1997.
''I should be happy, but I'm really ticked off,'' said Davies. ''It's just a lot of missed putts and it's frustrating.''
Even so, she is just three shots adrift of Rachel Hetherington, who was on top of a leaderboard for the first time in her LPGA career after a second round two-under-par 70 for a one-stroke lead.
Beth Daniel, who started the third round one stroke behind Hetherington, kept pace with a 70 and her 10-under 206 was two strokes ahead of defending champion Annika Sorenstam, Davies, Se Ri Pak and Juli Inkster.
The impressive group tied for third at 208 have a collective 51 wins, including 10 majors. Inkster had a third-round 70, Pak a 69 and Sorenstam closed a 68 with an eagle on the par-5 eighteenth.
Hiromi Kobayashi and Lorie Kane had 68s to lead a group of four at 209 that included Charlotta Sorenstam and Karrie Webb, who had 70s.
Leading third round scores (USA unless otherwise stated):
205 - R Hetherington (Australia) 69, 66, 70.
206 - B Daniel 67, 69, 70.
208 - L Davies (England) 68, 72, 68; A Sorenstam (Sweden) 71, 69, 68; S R Pak (Korea) 68, 71, 69; J Inkster 69, 69, 70.
209 - H Kobayashi (Japan) 70, 71, 68; L Kane (Canada) 71, 70, 68; C Sorenstam (Sweden) 69, 70, 70; K Webb (Australia) 71, 68, 70.
210 - S Mehra (India) 70, 71, 69.
Other scores included:
211 - D Reid (Scotland) 74, 69, 68.
214 - C McMillan (England) 72, 70, 72; A Nicholas (England) 73, 69, 72.
215 - T Johnson (England) 70, 72, 73; L Hackney (England) 71, 71, 73.
218 - S Lowe (England) 70, 75, 73.
q American Todd Hamilton fired a 7-under-par 65 as he surged ahead of the two overnight leaders and won his first title in two years by a two strokes in the Gene Sarazen Jun Classic in Shioya, Japan.
After starting three shots off the pace, Hamilton birdied the first two holes and went on to add five more birdies in a bogey-free trek over the par-72 Rope Club course. His 65 also tied for the day's best round.
At an 18-under 270 total, Hamilton finished two strokes ahead of Australian Craig Parry.
The victory, Hamilton's first since winning the 1996 PGA Philanthropy, was worth $147,000 from a purse of $818,000.
The 32-year-old Hamilton, winner of the 1992 Order of Merit on the Asian Tour, has won seven tournaments overall in six years on the Japanese tour.
''I've been in bad shape and playing bad golf for two long years,'' Hamilton said. ''This win really means a lot to me and to my confidence in my golf.''
Masashi 'Jumbo' Ozaki, who leads the Japanese money list with two victories so far this season, shot a 66 and shared seventh place at 277 with first-round leader Eduardo Herrera, of Colombia, and three others.
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