Third round: Price poised for first victory on Sunday
TIMONIUM, Md. (AP) -- Nick Price moved into position for his first win on the Champions Tour, shooting a bogey-free 66 Saturday to take a one-shot lead over D.A. Weibring after three rounds of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
Starting the day in a fifth-place tie, Price moved up the leaderboard with birdies on three of the first five holes. He then peeled off 11 straight pars before sinking a 13-foot birdie putt on 17.
The 51-year-old Price barely missed a 23-foot birdie putt on 18, then tapped in to close at 8-under 202.
Price earned more than $20 million on the PGA TOUR and won two Player of the Year awards, but he has yet to cash a winner's check in 30 tournaments on the 50-and-over circuit.
That could change Sunday in the Champion Tour's last major of the year.
It probably won't be easy -- eight players will enter the final round within four shots of the lead.
Weibring made five birdies in shooting a 66. Jeff Sluman (64) and Gene Jones (69) were at 6 under; Eduardo Romero (67) was alone at 5 under; and Jay Haas (69) and Fred Funk (72) were among four players at 4 under.
Sluman had the best round of the week. He eagled the 362-yard, par-4 sixth hole, made four birdies, hit 13 of 14 fairways and didn't have a bogey.
To read the remainder of this story, click here.
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| Saturday's Best |
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The par-5, 583-yard fourth was the easiest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.584.
The par-4, 452-yard third was toughest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.325.
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Jeff Sluman swears his eagle on the sixth hole looped around the cup twice before finally sinking into the hole. He hit his 60-degree wedge from about 69 yards and holed out for an eagle two on the par-4, 362-yard hole.
Not only did he have the shot of the day but Jeff Sluman also had the low round with four birdies, one eagle and no bogeys. His birdie-birdie finish also gave him momentum heading into the final round.| QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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SLUMAN HOPING THIS MAJOR HAS A BETTER ENDING
By Lauren Deason, PGATOUR.COM Editorial Coordinator
TIMONIUM, Md. -- Kinda stinky.
Those were the exact words Jeff Sluman used to describe how he'd played in the Champions Tour majors thus far this season. It's especially true of the first major in 2008, the Senior PGA Championship, where Sluman had the 54-hole lead at the tournament held practically in his backyard in Rochester, N.Y., and closed with a 78 on Sunday.
"I had a good chance to win at the PGA in Rochester and came out with no bullets in the chamber on Sunday, I came out empty," Sluman said of the tournament in late May.
He wound up tied for ninth there. At the Senior British Open, the next major of the season, he made the cut on the nose then jumped into a tie for 21st after a solid weekend run. The same thing happened at the U.S. Senior Open, where he barely made the cut then fired a 67 on Sunday to tie for 18th.
The JELD-WEN Tradition frustrated him. Sluman played well but his scorecard didn't reflect it and he ended up tied for 31st.
He's hoping this week's major, the fifth and final of the Champions Tour season, will be a little more kind. On Saturday at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, Sluman shot a 6-under 64, which was the low round of the day, and moved into a tie for third.
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PRO-AM JINX? NOT FOR WEIBRING
At some tournaments, players don't want to win the pro-am before the tournament because they think it might bring bad luck. D.A. Weibring, on the other hand, thinks he might have gotten an advantage from his 15-under win with his team in the Wednesday pro-am.
On Saturday of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, Weibring stood on the 18th hole over a nearly identical putt to the one he'd had to win the pro-am. Piece of cake, he thought, I've already seen this once this week.
"On Wednesday, my team was coming to the last hole and we were tied for the lead. A couple of my guys were a little nervous, but I'd played a good shot behind the hole that was about where I was today," Weibring said on Saturday.
He made his putt on Wednesday and again on Saturday, which gave him a birdie and a spot in the final group on Sunday.
"The pin wasn't as far down where I was on Wednesday, but it was very similar putt and now I've made that putt a couple of times this week, which was nice."
IT'S ALL IN THE BAG
| 1 | Number of players -- Gene Jones -- who have had three straight rounds in the 60s. |
| 12 | How many times the leader or co-leader on Saturday has gone on to win. |
| 1994 | The last time Nick Price led in a major championship |
D.A. Weibring has only had four top-10 finishes in 22 starts this season, which is unusual for the typically consistent player. In his past four full seasons on the Champions Tour, Weibring has always had at least 12 top-10s.
Part of that can be attributed to the clubs in his bag. Weibring broke the head of his driver earlier in the year and struggled to find another one that suited him. Finally, he took the shaft from his old driver and paired it with another head.
Just two weeks ago at the SAS Championship, Weibring switched to a new putter. He had been using an Odyssey 2-Ball putter but is now putting with the TaylorMade Spider.
"I used it the opening round at SAS on Friday. I shot 75 but was 5 under through seven holes and brought it back to shoot 75, which was 3 over. Then I shot 63 on Saturday and it was really the first day where I felt comfortable. I had been in a little bit of a drought and I really started to make putts. I shot 70 on Sunday and finished 10th," Weibring said. "I feel very confident and I really like the alignment features with this putter, it's really solid. I hope it stays warm for a month."
PRICE IS RIGHT ON
Like Weibring, Nick Price also recently made a putter change. Just this week, he switched to a PING mallet from T.P. Mills center-shafted blade putter. Price, who won 18 times on the PGA TOUR, said he won more often in the past with a mallet putter and the change has restored his confidence on the greens.
"I feel more comfortable. I feel like if I lob the ball out 30 feet below hole, I'll two-putt and might hole it, whereas two or three weeks ago, if I was outside of 20 feet, I was worried about leaving it six feet short or hitting it six feet by," Price said. "It's made me feel a little more comfortable with my game and taken the pressure off."
Price is tied for 17th this week in making putts after hitting the green in regulation but that stat doesn't quite cover his week. The longest putt he made was 22 feet on the 16th hole in Round 1 and he's been perfect on putts under 3 feet this week.
"Hopefully this one will give me the confidence I need," he added. "It's been a bit ugly on the greens this year. This week, knock on wood, it's been good."
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HOOK 'EM HORNS
Gil Morgan was none to thrilled to see Tom Kite as Morgan walked down the fairway on the 17th hole.
The fifth-ranked University of Texas Longhorns football team had beaten the No. 1-ranked University of Oklahoma Sooners about five minutes before the end of Kite's round. Kite attended the University of Texas. Morgan lives in Oklahoma and is a long-time Sooners fan, so Kite couldn't resist a chance to rub in the 45-35 victory.
Standing with both arms raised high and his hands in "Hook 'em horns" hand signal, Kite didn't even have to say a word. That was enough. Morgan and John Cook, an Ohio State alum who was also in Morgan's group, knew they couldn't mess with the victorious Texan.
Kite was also wearing a Texas-colored, burnt orange shirt and, as always, signed autographs with an orange Sharpie.
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