We study the static three-quark (3Q) potential in detail using SU(3) lattice QCD with123×24at&bgr;=5.7and163×32at&bgr;=5.8,6.0 at the quenched level. For more than 200 patterns of the 3Q systems, we numerically derive 3Q ground-state potentialV3Qfrom the 3Q Wilson loop with the smearing technique, which reduces excited-state contaminations. The lattice QCD data ofV3Qare well reproduced within a few &percent; deviation by a sum of a constant, the two-body Coulomb term and the three-body linear confinement term&sgr;3QLmin,withLminthe minimal value of total length of color flux tubes linking the three quarks. From the comparison with theQ-Q¯potential, we find a universality of the string tension as&sgr;3Q≃&sgr;QQ¯and the one-gluon-exchange result for Coulomb coefficients,A3Q≃1/2AQQ¯.©2001 American Institute of Physics.