Dale Eggeling saved her nerviest shots for last.

Eggeling's birdie putt on the 18th hole today gave her a one-stroke lead in the Welch's-Circle K Championship.

On the tournament's first warm, calm day, Eggeling's 3-under-par 69 was a middle-of-the-pack score. But her previous rounds of 68 and 67 allowed her to post a 54-hole total of 12-under 204.

"There were about four or five putts that I felt like I should have made," said Eggeling, who bogeyed two of the four par-3s on the Randolph Park North Course. "But I made one that I felt like was the putt that kept me in the ballgame."

That was a par-saving 25-footer on No. 17 after she knocked her approach shot over the green. Eggeling kept it going on No. 18, where she got up and down after pulling a 9-iron shot left into a bunker.

Swinging from a difficult stance, she wedged the ball out to within 11 feet of the flag, then sank the putt to pull away from Michele Redman and Dottie Pepper.

Redman, who carded a 65, and Pepper, who shot 69, were at 205, with Hollis Stacy and Nancy Scranton at 206. Scranton shared the lead with Eggeling when the third round began.

Catriona Matthew fired a 65 and was alone three shots back.

Tammie Green, Se Ri Pak and Julie Inkster were four shots off the lead.

Karrie Webb, who has yet to finish lower than seventh this year, broke par for the 14th time in 18 rounds with a 66 and joined defending champion Helen Alfredsson, Kelly Robbins, Kristi Alberts and Tracy Hanson at 209.

"You've got to play your own game," Redman said about having 14 players clustered within five shots of the lead. "Even though you're sort of competing against each other, it all comes down to how you play the course. I knew I needed a round like today to get back in it. I'll probably need another one to win."

The leaderboard is familiar territory to Eggeling, who has five top-10 finishes in the last eight years in the Tucson LPGA stop but has yet to win it.

"I'll put blinders on," she said about her refusal to look at the numbers during the round. "If I need help with something, I'll have my caddie look for me. But I just play it hole by hole and try to stay consistent."

Eggeling reached 12-under the first time when she birdied the seventh hole. At that point, she had a two-shot lead on Pepper and Scranton.

Eggeling bogeyed the next hole, and Redman, playing nine groups ahead, was lighting up the back nine with birdies on four of the last six holes.

When Redman two-putted for birdie from 20 feet on the last hole, she had a one-stroke lead on Eggeling, who bottomed out at 10-under when she bogeyed No. 11.

Eggeling fought back with a birdie on the 13th hole, then made the crucial swing into the lead with a spectacular short game on the last two holes.

Pepper, Redman, Scranton, Stacy and Matthew also birdied the 18th hole.

"I don't think I've had my best round yet," said Pepper, the 1995 Tucson champion. "It's just a matter of getting some momentum and seeing a few of those 7- or 8-footers go in. I've made a few."