Dottie Pepper and longtime friend Meg Mallon seemed to have turned the Nabisco Dinah Shore into a match-play event.

Of course, the two are familiar with the format, having been teammates on the U.S. Solheim Cup squad.

Pepper, whose only major championship came seven years ago in the Dinah Shore, opened a three-shot lead today as Mallon stumbled to a double bogey on the last hole.

Pepper shot a 5-under-par 67 to go to 13-under 203, helped by holing a sand wedge from 79 yards for an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole. Mallon, who led the first two days of the tournament, the LPGA's first major of the year, had a 71.

Mallon still may be the only player to have a realistic chance to catch Pepper, since the golfers nearest the two -- Juli Inkster and Kelly Robbins -- are six shots out of the lead.

"Dottie and I turned it into a little match play," Mallon said. "We got a lot of momentum together, were kind of feeding off each other. She and I were grinning at each other, saying, 'This is what it's all about.' "

Pepper said she and Mallon have known each other for 16 or 17 years, since they were college golfers, and that they were used to playing together from those days, on the LPGA Tour, and from the Solheim Cup.

"We've spent a lot of time together," Pepper said. "We were continuing conversations today that we started last Sunday" during the Phoenix tournament.

Pepper also said she doesn't intend to coast in the final round.

"I don't consider any lead safe," she said. "I didn't get in this position by playing it safe."

Said Mallon: "It's Sunday of a major championship and it's still anybody's game, although Dottie and I are obviously in the best position."

Pepper's eagle on the 508-yard No. 9 put her one shot behind and she birdied No. 10 to draw even with Mallon at 10-under.

Pepper then moved a shot ahead with a birdie on No. 12 and remained one stroke in front until Mallon's collapse on the final hole.

Mallon sailed a 9-iron over the flag and into the rough behind the green at the 18th, muffed her first chip from there, left the ball 12 feet short of the pin on her second, then two-putted.

"I just need to get over this double bogey," Mallon said. "I've been playing good golf and I've got to remember that."

Two-time Dinah Shore champion Inkster shot a 71, and 1995 LPGA Championship winner Robbins a 67 to put them 7-under. Both Inkster and Robbins already have won once this year, but it might take a collapse by Pepper for either of them to have a chance this time.

"Dottie and Meg are both playing very well," Inkster said. "It's going to be hard to catch them."

It was another two shots back to Se Ri Pak of Korea, the tour's 1998 Rookie of the Year; Mayumi Hirase of Japan; and Kris Tschetter at 211.

Pak, who won two majors last year, and Hirase each shot 69, and Tschetter had a 73.

Pat Hurst, six months pregnant, shot herself out of any chance of defending the title. Hurst, close to the front the first day with a 69, struggled to a third-round 75 that put her at 2-over.

Pepper, who has won 14 titles since joining the tour in 1988, beat Inkster in a playoff to win the 1992 Dinah Shore.