US GOLF: Justin Leonard shot a five-under-par 66 to claim a three-stroke advantage after the third round of the Worldcom Classic at Hilton Head Island.

Leonard, who closed on 16 un-der, jumped to the top of the leaderboard at the Harbour Town Golf Links as second round leader Phil Mickelson slipped back with a one-over 72.

Having not won outside his home state since 1998, Leonard will feature in an all-Texan final pairing in the last round after Cameron Beckman kept himself in the hunt with a 67.

World number two Mickelson is now back in a tie for third at 12 under while Davis Love III, first round leader and a four-time winner of the event, has fallen to six strokes off the pace.

Of the top nine players on the leaderboard, Mickelson and Love were the only ones who failed to break par.

Heath Slocum is tied with Mickelson for third at 201, two shots better than Love and Angel Cabrera of Argentina.

LEADING THIRD ROUND SCORES

(USA unless stated, par 71):

197 - Justin Leonard 67 64 66.

200 - Cameron Beckman 70 63 67.

201 - Heath Slocum 67 68 66, Phil Mickelson 65 64 72.

203 - Angel Cabrera 66 67 70, Davis Love III 62 69 72.

204 - Jeff Sluman 73 66 65, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 65 68, Len Mattiace 70 68 66.

205 - Charles Howell III 68 71 66, Glen Hnatiuk (Can) 68 71 66, Bob Tway 70 65 70, Lee Janzen 65 67 73, Neal Lancaster 70 65 70, Billy Mayfair 65 68 72.

206 - Greg Chalmers (Aus) 74 68 64, C Stadler 69 68 69.

207 - Carlos Franco (Par) 68 67 72, Esteban Toledo (Mex) 69 69 69, S Verplank 67 68 72, B Andrade 64 71 72, D Frost (Rsa) 65 71 71, P-U Johansson (Swe) 69 67 71, Greg Norman (Aus) 66 69 72.

208 - Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 72 66, C Riley 68 73 67, C Smith 69 71 68, W Austin 72 68 68, P Bates 68 69 71, J D Blake 70 66 72, J Furyk 70 65 73, S Jones 67 72 69.