DULUTH, Ga. — Nicklaus is back on the leader board on a Georgia golf course, and this time it isn't Jack.
Jack's son, Gary, shot a 4-under 68 Saturday and grabbed a share of the lead with Phil Mickelson after the third round of the BellSouth Classic.
"Keep calm and be patient," Nicklaus said of his approach to the final round in his quest to win his first 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, both posting 70s Saturday.
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.
THE TRADITION: Tom Kite barely bettered par and still opened a two-shot lead over Andy North in the third round of the Tradition.
No one but North lit up the exacting Cochise Course at Desert Mountain, where a thunderstorm interrupted play for the second-straight day. But Kite, who started one stroke behind Larry Nelson after both completed the second round earlier Saturday, fared as well as most.
He took the lead for good with a spectacular blast out of a trap that set up a birdie putt on No. 12, made five-straight pars and birdied the last hole for a 1-under-par 71 and a 54-hole total of 208.
North, an ESPN golf analyst who picked the year's first Senior PGA major to debut on the over-50 tour, had five birdies in an error-free round of 67.