Roberts Has Round To Remember

By Alex Miceli

Hutchinson, Kan. - Few times in major championship history does the number 63 come close to being eclipsed. Sixty-three has been the measure of distinction in golf's biggest arena, primarily its majors.

Loren Roberts on Saturday moved the bar one rung lower, shooting a bogey-free 62, the lowest round in major championship history. He eclipsed five other's that had shot 63, starting with Johnny Miller's final round at Oakmont in 1973 and most recently Allen Doyle's 63 in the final round of the Senior Open last year.

"Well, yeah, that doesn't surprise me," said Doyle of Roberts' score.

"I got tired of being astonished," said fellow competitor Mike Reid of Roberts' round. "I  didn't really start thinking that he was doing anything unusual until about three holes to go. And then I wouldn't be surprised if Loren feels the same way, because the way he was playing, it just didn't seem like he was that low.  It was so solid and really spectacular."

Roberts, 51, didn't have lofty goals when he began the third round seven shots off Tom Watson's

Loren Roberts, putting Saturday, had 12 one-putts during his record-setting round. (John Mummert/USGA)

lead.  At 3 over, he just wanted to strike fairways and greens, starting with the first hole that he had missed the first two days.  Once he hit the first fairway, the rest seem to take care of itself. Roberts made five birdies over the first seven holes to move dramatically up the leaderboard, where he found his name for the first time in the championship.

"In a regular tournament, let alone a major championship, there's always a tendency to [say], ‘Can you keep it going on the back nine?'" said Roberts.  "And I was thrilled that I played 3 under on the back side.  I guess the back side is considered a little tougher here, so I was just thrilled to death to kind of keep the round going."

Roberts won the first three events on the Champions Tour in 2006, but has not won a fourth, coming close. He finished in the top 10 the next seven events, but last week at Kansas City, Roberts finished T57, his worst finish on the Champions Tour and only his second finish out of the top 10 since he turned 50.

Trying to put a positive face on his game and attitude in his pre-championship press conference, Roberts talked glowingly about playing Prairie Dunes because his deceased mentor, Jim Swagerty, who grew up in Oklahoma City, loved the Perry Maxwell design.  But after two rounds of 72-71, Roberts' dream of playing the Dunes well were fleeting until Saturday.

"I've been struggling with hitting the ball and today it just kind of seemed to click on something," said Roberts. "And the putter was feeling good and I hit a couple of poor shots out there, but I seemed to get some good breaks.  I drove in the rough a couple times but had lies that I could do something with."

Roberts has a history of low rounds in a major. In 1994 at the same Oakmont that Miller shot his 63, 21 years earlier, Roberts shot a third-round 64 that would eventually get him in a playoff with South Africa's Ernie Els and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie. 

Roberts would lose to Els on the 92nd hole and never come closer to winning a major in his career until he captured the 2005 JELD-WEN Tradition.

"I've gotten over that," said Roberts of the playoff loss to Els.  "Let's see, my wife and I, we flew home Monday night, we turned the phones off for three days, we did our grieving and got over it."

Now Roberts, 12 years later, is again in position to win his first USGA championship.  Unlike in 1994 when the field was stacked against him, Roberts was one of the favorites coming into Hutchinson, regardless of his missteps in Kansas City, but he will have to tackle one of the best golfers of his generation in Watson, a native son of Kansas.

With questionable weather expected for Sunday, it will add just one more element that Roberts will have to deal with in accomplishing his goal of winning the U.S. Senior Open on the favorite course of his mentor.

"You got to just forget all about it and start all over tomorrow and just try to make some birdies," said Roberts. "Obviously we don't know what we'll get when we get out here, weather-wise or golf course setup.  So just kind of start on trying to get it in the fairway on the first hole again and go from there."

Alex Miceli is a freelance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.ussenioropen.com.