Sherri Steinhauer tied a course record with a 30 on the front nine, then scrambled in for a five-under-par 66 and a two-shot lead after three rounds of the Japan Airlines Big Apple Classic.

Steinhauer's 11-under total of 202 led Lorie Kane by two strokes and Juli Inkster by four. Tina Barrett and Karrie Webb were a stroke further back at 6-under 207.

Most of the players spent the round beneath sun umbrellas when they were not playing. Temperatures were in the mid-90s today and the heat index was over 100.

But no players gave up due to the heat, however, unlike Friday when both Mi Hyun Kim and Caroline Gowan quit their rounds because of heat exhaustion.

Steinhauer's 30 matched the record for the best nine at the Wykagyl Country Club. It is shared by Colleen Walker (1991), Inkster (1992) and Annika Sorenstam (1997).

She birdied the first, fifth, seventh eighth and ninth with putts of 12 feet or shorter. She also made a 25-footer for birdie on the 12th hole.

"I was really comfortable. My swing felt really good," Steinhauer said. "I was really focused in on the target."

Inkster was nearly as good on the back nine as Steinhauer was on the front.

Standing at only 2-under for the tournament through nine holes, and trailing Steinhauer by nine shots at that point, Inkster birdied the 10th and 11th holes, then jumped into contention at 6-under with an eagle on the 432-yard par 5 15th hole by chipping in from about 13 yards past the pin.

She followed with birdies at 16 and 17. Needing a par for a 30 on the par 5 18th hole, however, Inkster flubbed her third shot from a bunker just in front of the green and could not save par.

Inkster, can qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame with a victory Sunday.

"It's too hot to think about anything but golf," Inkster said of the Hall of Fame. "It's the furthest thing from my mind right now. ... I've had a great career and if it happens, it happens."

Se Ri Pak, who led by a stroke after each of the first two rounds, shot a 6-over 77 with five bogeys on her last six holes and was at 1-under 212 after three rounds.

Kane jumped out to 9-under with birdies on the first three holes. But Steinhauer caught her with a birdie at the 222-yard par 3 seventh and pulled away with her birdies at three par-4s, Nos. 8, 9 and 12.

Kane has finished second seven times in her four-year LPGA career, including twice this year. She's lost playoffs three times.

She said there are about 140,000 people in her native Prince Edward Island, Canada, who never seem to tire about asking when her breakthrough victory will be.

"'I don't know,' I say, 'but if you can tell me I'll show up,'" Kane said. "I get excited about people wondering when I'm going to win and we're going to have a big party when it happens."

Most of the players spent their rounds hunkered beneath sun umbrellas when they were not playing shots. Temperatures were in the mid-90s Saturday and, with the high humidity factored in, the heat index was over 100. No players gave up due to the heat, however, unlike Friday when both Mi Hyun Kim and Caroline Gowan quit their rounds because of heat exhaustion.

DIVOTS: NBC offered its affiliates the choice of taking the scheduled two-hour feed of the third round Saturday afternoon or NBC News' coverage of the search for John F. Kennedy Jr.'s airplane. About half the stations in the country took the news feed and half stuck with the golf, according to Jon Miller, senior vice president for NBC Sports. The Big Apple Classic was also telecast on NBC's cable channel CNBC. "This is a fact of life when it comes to live television and news coverage of national importance," LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw said. ... Inkster is 8-under on the four par 5s at Wykagyl this week and 1-over on the par 3s and 4s. ... Kane and Steinhauer will be paired together on Sunday for the fourth straight day.

AP