Associated Press
Saturday, June 10

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Dale Eggeling can thank all those teen-age golf lessons on Georgia's wind-blown coast.

Eggeling, a 25-year LPGA veteran, mastered swirling winds and gusts up to 30 mph to shoot an even-par 72 Saturday and move into the lead at the Rochester International. She was at 5-under 211, two strokes ahead of Meg Mallon.

"I learned how to hit a low ball, keep it out of the wind," Eggeling said of her golf education growing up near Savannah, Ga. "I never really even thought about it, but having learned those shots is an advantage."

Her uncle, she said, taught her to hit low-bore drives. "Hitting a punch shot all day long is not going to hurt you -- you get it up in the wind and you're at the mercy of the wind," she said.

The tough conditions had most of the leaders backpedaling at the tree-lined Locust Hill course.

Mallon, an 11-time tour winner, also shot a third-round 72 to move into second place at 3-under, two ahead of Cindy Figg-Currier (72), whose sole victory came in a playoff at the State Farm Rail Classic in 1997.

Five others were at 216, including Rosie Jones (74), who won here in 1991 and '98. Defending champion Karrie Webb (73) bogeyed the last hole to slip to 4-over.

Eggeling, 46, has won three tournaments -- one each in 1980, '95 and '98. After missing the cut in nine of 11 outings this year, she reverted to an old set of clubs and took an eighth-place tie at the Kathy Ireland Greens.com LPGA Classic last Sunday.

She opened with a 71 Thursday, then jumped into a first-place tie with Wendy Doolan of Australia with a 68 Friday highlighted by a hole-in-one.

Eggeling dropped a 36-foot birdie putt on No. 6 and salvaged a par from 12 feet away on the next hole. She three-putted for bogeys on Nos. 10 and 16, but holed from 26 feet for a birdie on No. 17.

"I was just grinding out there so hard," she said. "This is one of the most taxing days I think I have had in a long, long time."

Mallon got to 4-under at No. 2, but lost ground by three-putting Nos. 13 and 16. She then sank a 26-foot putt for birdie on No. 17.

"This course wears you out. Every shot is a big decision," Mallon said.

Eggeling's most lucrative year on tour was 1998, when she won $277,217. She ran up three top-10 finishes last year and is 33rd on the career money list with $2.2 million.

Mallon is 11th on the money list with $4.5 million. Since taking third place at the Nabisco Championship in March, she's had three top-10 finishes and a tie for 18th.

Jenny Lidback got back to even-par with a 2-under 70 -- the day's best round. Her sole victory was a major championship, the duMaurier Classic in 1995. Tied with her was South Korean rookie Jeong Jang (71), an opening-round co-leader who turns 20 years old Sunday, and Doolan, who fell back with a 77.