Steve Flesch, who used a second-place finish at New Orleans last year as a springboard to the PGA Tour rookie of the year award, shot a 68 today for a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the $2.6 million Compaq Classic.

Flesch was at 15-under 201, one stroke ahead of Omar Uresti and Eric Booker, each with 71s, and two strokes ahead Dudley Hart, Harrison Frazar and Carlos Franco. Hart and Frazar each shot 65 and Franco had a 68.

"This is the first time I've sat on a lead in a PGA Tour event," Flesch said. "I definitely prefer to be leading. I can kind of draw on the feeling of having the lead and say, 'Let's go win this thing.' Or at least, I hope I can."

Flesch birdied his first hole and added birdies on Nos. 6, 9 and 10. He missed a 6-foot par putt on 13 for a bogey, but got the stroke back at No. 16.

But with birdies popping up in almost every round, the chase for the $468,000 first place money is far from wrapped up.

Doug Dunakey and Ted Tryba each shot 8-under 64s to get back into the hunt at 10-under, four players had 7-under-par rounds and six more had 66s on Saturday.

"The way the scoring has been, I may not even be in the lead by the time I tee it up," Flesch said.

As impressive as the scores were, the crowd at the top of the leader board had few familiar faces in it.

Only one player in the top nine has ever won on the tour -- Hart, winner of the Canadian Open in 1996.

"I don't know if having won will help any," Hart said. "Maybe it will. Before I won in Canada you always questioned yourself, 'Can I do that?' You can't help that."

Confidence didn't seem to be a problem for many in the third round as once again the 7,106-yard, par-72 course at English Turn was extremely tame.

"The golf course is very accessible right now," Frazar said. "If the conditions stay the same, I'd say the winner will be 20, maybe 22 under."

New Orleans, already hitting the high 80s this time of year, has fallen far below its usual rainfall level this spring. On top of that, a cold front moved through on Thursday leaching the humidity from the air.

The resulting dryness has left the fairways firm and fast while the greens have remained soft enough to allow players to hit close to the pins. Add to that a lack of wind which is usually a factor at English Turn, and the usually cruel Jack Nicklaus course was surprisingly mild all week.

"Everybody is shooting birdies out there," Uresti said. "If you shoot three pars in a row you feel like you're falling behind - and you are."

The tournament record of 16-under seems almost certain to fall this week. Booker was at 17-under with two holes to play but had a double bogey on 17 and a bogey on 18, dropping him to 14-under.

Uresti, who had did not make a bogey in the first two rounds, made two bogeys and a double bogey on Saturday.

"Actually that first bogey actually loosened me up a little bit," he said. "I hadn't had a bogey in the tournament, so that was kind of a relief. The others were just a couple of bad drives, but I didn't play bad."

Defending champion Lee Westwood, whose 73 on Saturday left him at 214, withdrew after the round because of a sore right shoulder.