Trio share lead at 12 under par

Craig Stadler shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday to pull within a stroke of leaders Chris Riley, Steve Flesch and Jonathan Kaye after the third round of the Reno-Tahoe Open.

Riley opened with five straight birdies, but mixed three birdies with three bogeys the rest the way for a 67 and a share of the lead at 12-under 204 on the Montreux Golf & Country Club course. Kaye shot a 69, and Flesch followed his second-round 64 with a 70 in sometimes windy conditions on the mountain layout.

The 49-year-old Stadler, the 1982 Master champion who formerly lived at nearby Lake Tahoe, was threatening the course record of 63 before he hit into the water on the par-3 16th and was forced to make a 10-footer to save double bogey. But he hit a bunker shot to 8 feet on the par-5 17th to set up his ninth birdie of the round.

"All of a sudden putts started to go in," Stadler said.

"I made nine birdie putts today and I think the longest one was probably about 8 feet," he told The Golf Channel. He refused to go to the media tent for interviews after his round.

Bob Tway was two strokes back after a 70.

The three leaders are all seeking their first PGA win.

"We're all pretty hungry so it should be interesting to watch," said Kaye, the 32-year-old Colorado native who finished second in the Greater Hartford Open and has three top-10 finishes this year.

He said that if the weather is good Sunday it might take a score of 16- or 17-under to claim the $540,000 winner's check.

Riley, the former star at UNLV star who jumped to 29th on the money list with $1.2 million after his third-place finish last week in the PGA Championship, said he's "looking forward to the challenge" of Sunday's final round.

"It's definitely different on Sunday out there, but the more I get there, the more prepared I feel," the 28-year-old Las Vegas resident said.

"The last four years on tour, I've been playing solid. This has been the work of four or five or six years as a professional."

Flesch said he had trouble judging the swirling wind Saturday.

"I hung in there and gave my self a chance for tomorrow. I'm going to go out and play aggressively," he said.

Stadler birdied five of six holes beginning at the 616-yard, par-5 ninth. He hit to 3 feet on the 355-yard 13th, and 9 feet on the 491-yard 4 14th to set up birdies.

He's winless since the 1996 Nissan Open.

"It's been a long time. It's been six years. It might be tomorrow or it might be two years. I'm just going to go out and have a good time," he said.

He admitted, however, he's ready for the Senior PGA Tour, and said if son Kevin had advanced to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Amateur championship, he might have decided to miss the cut Friday and go watch him at Oakland Hills in Michigan.

"I was watching his match Thursday over at the Hilton in the sports book and I was an absolute wreck," Stadler said. "I was shaking. I'd much rather be playing."

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