Tway, the 1986 PGA champion, fired a morning round of six-under 66, while Janzen, the winner of the 1993 and 1998 U.S. Opens, shot a five-under 67 in the afternoon.
Just two shots back after shooting a two-under 70 is South Africa’s Retief Goosen, the 2001 U.S. Open winner and defending BellSouth Classic champion.
Mexico’s Esteban Toledo (68) and Sweden’s Carl Pettersson (68) jumped into a tie for fourth place on 139 with first-round leader Chris DiMarco (72) and Billy Andrade (71).
Janzen, who has not won on the PGA Tour since his last U.S. Open victory, had the lead alone on nine-under until he bogeyed the eighth hole, his 17th, to drop back into a tie with Tway.
Janzen missed only two fairways and just four greens on a TPC at Sugarloaf course that has played firm and fast.
He added that the Greg Norman-designed layout fitted his game perfectly.
Since winning the 1998 Open, Janzen has found little success in his game, with only one runner-up finish since then and four third-place showings.
Winning the BellSouth, he said, would go a long way toward making up for the past few seasons.
Tway’s frustration is of an even older vintage and his last victory came in the 1995 MCI Classic.
After coming close with top-five finishes in both the Chrysler Classic of Tucson and the Ford Championship this season, Tway said he thought a win could be in his future.
Like Janzen, Tway has played well at times, but not consistently enough to win.
Phil Mickelson, the world’s number four and the highest ranked player in the field, stumbled badly in this final tournament before next week’s U.S. Masters.
Mickelson, who had taken the last month off due to the birth of his son, shot a seven-over 79 to finish on eight-over 152, six shots off the cut.
Also failing to advance were Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, the runner-up in last week’s Players Championship; Canada’s Mike Weir, twice a winner on tour this season; and Rich Beem, the defending PGA champion.
Leading second round scores
136 Bob Tway 70 66, Lee Janzen 69 67
138 Retief Goosen (South Africa) 68 70
139 Esteban Toledo (Mexico) 71 68, Chris DiMarco 67 72, Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 71 69
140 Jeff Gallagher 71 69, Jay Williamson 68 72, Tom Pernice Jr. 70 70, Paul Lawrie (Britain) 72 68, Joey Sindelar 69 71, Thomas Levet (France) 73 67, Cameron Yancey 72 68, John Morgan (Britain) 69 71, Hank Kuehne 71 69, Briny Baird 72 68, Brenden Pappas (South Africa) 71 69, Brad Lardon 68 72
141 Brandt Jobe 70 71, John Rollins 72 69, Skip Kendall 72 69, Olin Browne 70 71, Mike Sposa 71 70, Steve Jones 71 70, Kenichi Kuboya (Japan) 73 68.
Loar three clear of field
BANGKOK: American Edward Loar fired a five-under-par 67 on Saturday to take a three-shot lead into the final round of the Thailand Open.
Loar maintained his composure in soaring temperatures during the third round to end on a 16-under-par total of 200. The 16-year-old Thai amateur Chanin Puntawong enjoyed an impressive round of 61, equalling the Asian PGA record for the lowest 18-hole score, to sit on 13 under, along with Australian Jason Dawes who recorded a 70.
Local favourite Thongchai Jaidee and Myanmar’s Aung Win were four strokes adrift of the leader.
Loar, a left-handed former Walker Cup player, recorded six birdies and a single bogey in his round at Krisada City Golf Hills on the outskirts of Bangkok.
India’s Gaurav Ghei produced a hole in one at the 16th hole on his way to a 65 and a share of sixth place.
Leading third round scores
200 Edward Loar (U.S.) 67 66 67
203 a-Chanin Puntawong 72 70 61, Jason Dawes (Australia) 68 65 70
204 Aung Win (Myanmar) 67 69 68, Thongchai Jaidee 67 66 71
205 Gaurav Ghei (India) 70 70 65, Boonchu Ruangkit 71 68 66, Rashid Ismail (Malaysia) 70 72 64, Shannon Jones (Australia) 68 71 67, Amandeep Johl (India) 71 67 68 Scott Taylor (U.S.) 66 71 69, Andrew Pitts (U.S.) 71 65 70.—Reuters