Pooley Smashes Record
By Kevin McManemin, USGA
Baltimore, Md. – No. 16. Beautiful drive straight down the
fairway. Second shot lands about 3 feet from the flagstick.
Nice Easy putt for a birdie.
No. 17. Beautiful drive straight down the fairway. Second
shot lands about 20 feet from the flagstick. The putt snakes
in for a birdie.
Now, imagine you’re Don Pooley. Imagine you’re heading into
the 18th hole in the third round of the Senior
Open 8 under par for the day. A par on No. 18 and you not
only move into the lead; you set a new record for the lowest
round in the history of the Senior Open. How would you handle
the pressure?
Pooley wiped the sweat off his brow and attacked the 18th
hole, a long par 4 that has given players trouble all week.
His drive hooked right and landed in a fairway bunker. His
recovery shot landed on the fairway in front of the green.
Next shot, he chipped the ball to the green but it rolled
past the flagstick and kept rolling, stopping about 15 feet
from the hole. Fifteen feet from a new all-time, single-round
record for the Senior Open.
“[The last putt] was one of the most difficult ones today,”
said Pooley after the round. “It broke at least 2 feet and
I had a lot of speed to work with there. I really wasn’t
expecting to make that putt.”
Casting his doubts aside, Pooley sank the putt, and applause
erupted from the crowd. He walked off the course 8-under
for the day, having eked out a 63 at the punishing Caves Valley
Golf Club. He had beat par at 9 out of 18 holes, and only
gone over par on one hole. Orville Moody, Bruce Fleisher,
Jay Sigel and R.W. Eaks saw their shared record for lowest
Senior Open round of 64 shattered (Eaks, whose 64 round came
on Thursday, had all of two days to enjoy his spot in the
history books).
“A lot of good things happened today to shoot 63,” said Pooley.
“I had a lot of good bounces. I hit a lot of good shots when
I needed to, and I made a ton of putts. I really putted well.”
Actually, putting masterfully would be closer to the truth.
Pooley averaged only 1.39 putts per hole. Once on the green,
he rarely took more than one stroke to put the ball home.
Coming into Saturday, Pooley was 1 under for the championship,
scoring a 71 on Friday and a 70 on Thursday. He was tied
with seven other players for 10th place when he teed off on
his record-breaking round. Few expected him to seriously
contend for a US Senior Open victory at Caves Valley; no one
expected him to demolish records on his way to the trophy.
“The last couple years on the regular Tour I didn’t play
very well. I didn’t play very much, either,” said Pooley.
“I didn’t get off to a very good start this year, and my game
is just starting to come around.”
Coming into the Open, Pooley hadn’t finished higher than
ninth place in any Senior Tour event this year. He hasn’t
placed higher than fourth in his entire Senior Tour career.
Pooley’s record-breaking round began with him igniting the
front nine. On the first hole, he smashed his second shot
to within 1 foot of the flagstick and sank the putt to start
off with a birdie. On the second hole he ran into trouble.
“I hit a good drive on 2, and had a full sand wedge, and it
came up a little short and didn’t get it up-and-down,” said
Pooley. He scored a bogey on 2. It would be the only bogey
of the day.
On the third hole, Pooley got back into birdie form. He
didn’t let up. In all, he scored seven birdies on the first
10 holes, then hit pars on 11 through 15. He sank birdies
on 16 and 17, and got out of trouble on 18 to make par and
earn his astonishing final score of 63.
Going into the final round of the championship Sunday, Pooley
holds a three-shot lead over Tom Watson and Walter Hall (both
at 6 under).
“I love coming back after a low round, because you’re in
a birdie frame of mind, and birdies seem easier to make,”
said Pooley. “Good scores, I think, come in bunches, and
I’m hoping for another good one tomorrow. I know I’ll need
one with Kite and Watson and Walter Hall right behind me.”
E-mail McManemin with questions and comments at kmcmanemin@usga.org.
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