Bloody Red

Half The Field Under Par Or Better; Watson Still On Top

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Hutchinson, Kan. – The leaderboard at the 27^th U.S. Senior Open saw more movement than a military family Saturday.

Commonly referred to as moving day, the championship featured plenty of it at Prairie Dunes on Saturday. Loren Roberts, all but dormant through two rounds, put himself in contention with a record-setting exercise, firing an implausible 8-under-par 62 that left him three strokes out of the lead. This was on top of Andy Bean's 6-under 64, and Fred Funk and Jim Thorpe's 5-under efforts.

In all, almost half of the field – 28 of 61 - posted rounds of even par or better. Roberts said the scoreboard "was bleeding." Was this possible at a championship golf venue?

Why all the low numbers in a U.S. Open? A rain shower in the early morning and lifeless winds subtracted the firmness quotient from the equation. The scoring average dropped appreciably from Friday, almost four strokes, to 71.23. Countless players attributed that to benevolent hole locations.

Thorpe, Bean and Funk (24 putts) were guinea pigs of sorts, making the field take notice of their low numbers, entering the clubhouse early.

"You know it can be done, and it almost takes the governor off," said Jacobsen after a 2-under day

Allen Doyle chips onto the 18th green during the third round. He missed a crucial putt that led to bogey. (John Mummert/USGA)

tied him for fourth with Mark James. "I'm not going to say this can happen tomorrow. … There isn't much room at the top."

It seemed that Tom Watson and defending champion Allen Doyle were the only two constants that remained from the second round, again standing one and two, respectively, on the leaderboard. Watson matched a second-round 4-under 66 that put him 8 under for the championship. And Doyle, who has had three sub-par strolls, was two shots out of the lead at 6-under 204.

After the second round, Doyle lightheartedly bemoaned anyone who had to be paired with the Kansan and home-state favorite Watson. Now he'll get his chance, although he'll be grouped with Roberts and Watson. That's because inclement weather obliged the USGA to alter pairings and times. Play will now begin at 8 a.m. CDT off the first and 10^th tees. All but two groups will have three players.

"Everybody's going to be rooting for Tom," said Doyle, attempting to become the first repeat champion since Gary Player in 1988. "I'm going to have my wife quiz a couple of people to see if they know who else is playing in [the] group."

Roberts forged his way into the final grouping by carding eight birdies in a bogey-free round. He one-putted eight times on the front nine to make the turn 5-under 30, which tied the record for lowest nine-hole score in a Senior Open. Earlier in the day, Bean had matched this mark that is currently shared by 13 players.

By the time his par putt dropped on 18, Roberts secured the lowest single-round score in a U.S. Open, Women's Open or Senior Open. What's more, he tied Christina Kim's 2001 Girls' Junior record for lowest 18-hole score in a USGA championship. He said "this would be right there" with his 64 at Oakmont in the third round of the 1994 U.S. Open that he lost in a playoff.

"I knew it was pretty low," said Roberts, by himself in third. "They asked me for my ball and glove already, so I knew something was up.

"That got me weak in the knees there … to be honest."

When he drained a 30-footer on the 17^th hole, he knew he was close.

Speaking of close, Doyle climbed within a shot of Watson after eagling the par-5 17^th. He smacked a 3-wood 248 yards to within 12 feet and made the putt. But he gave it back on No. 18, pulling a 6-footer that broke early and led to the bogey.

Doyle yelled in the direction of his caddie, Butch Wilhelm, and jabbed his putter in the air in frustration. Doyle leads the championship with a 1.50 putting average.

"My caddie and I, our teamwork isn't there where we should have [identified] that spot as a bad spot," said Doyle.

As frustrating as that may have been, not being able to catch Watson had to be equally if not additionally discouraging. While half the field was having a bonanza on the 6,646-yard Prairie Dunes layout, Watson wasn't an exception. He had seven birdies.

But more impressive was his ability to bounce back from bogeys. On Friday he compared it to a boxing match, being slugged and then counter-punching. He did it three times in the third round in which he kept Doyle and the rest of the field at arm's length. There was no greater example of that than on the par-4 14^th. It was the same hole Doyle had just birdied to move within one stroke of his lead. Watson, who sometimes fights a balky putter, eased in a 12-footer to push the advantage back to two. He had two three-putts in his round, at No. 5 and again at No. 13.

A fan favorite all week, Watson knows he'll have to reach back to his days of British Open glory when he didn't relinquish leads.

Peter Jacobsen points toward the grandstand on the 17th green Saturday after his par putt swirled around the hole and finally dropped. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

"I react to the situation by just trying to take it as easy as I can," said Watson, who carded 28 putts. "There's pressure on me, but I've dealt with pressure before."

One thing could be certain Sunday: tougher hole locations. Any sense of target practice can be thrown out the window.

Perhaps Bean spoke for everyone's resigned feelings?

"They were a little bit more defenseless there and I'm sure tomorrow they're going to kind of rethink what they did today, and they're going to be a little tougher," he said.

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org.