Roberts pulls one shot clear

When the lead in the Westin Texas Open slipped out of Justin Leonard's hands today, the 1997 Open champion headed straight to the driving range.

Leonard was tied with Loren Roberts at 9-under par with three holes to play, but double-bogeyed the 16th and finished with a 2-under 68 to drop a stroke behind.

"I'm going to work on it right now,'' Leonard said just after walking off the La Cantera Golf Club course.

Roberts held onto the lead he shared the first day with Leonard and two others, shooting a 67 for a 9-under 131 total.

Len Mattiace also had a 67 to join Leonard at 132, and Blaine McCallister, Mike Standly, Frank Lickliter, Paul Goydos and Jerry Kelly followed at 7 under.

Leonard had two bogeys and two birdies on the front nine. He birdied Nos. 11, 14, and 15 before running into trouble.

After hitting his drive near a tree, he had to hit a backhand shot and managed to send it only 10 feet.

"I was in deep rough, just trying to brush it underneath the tree and run it up on the green, and clipped the tree,'' he said. "I was in the front cut of rough, in a divot from 77 yards and I hit a good wedge shot about 12 feet, and didn't hit a very good putt.''

The former University of Texas star rebounded with a birdie on the next hole.

"I had some good shots at times, but a few too many misses today,'' said Leonard, who finished second in the Texas Open in 1995 and 1998.

Roberts made birdie putts of 18, 15, and 12 feet.

"I had some really makable opportunities,'' said Roberts, considered the best putter on the PGA Tour and thus nicknamed "Boss of the Moss."

Roberts has made slow but steady progress over the course of his career.

He turned pro in 1975 but had to go to qualifying school five times in the 1980s before making the PGA Tour full time. It took him 19 years to win his first PGA Tour title.

But since that victory, at the Nestle Invitational in 1994, the 45-year-old Roberts has landed in the top 30 on the money list in every year except one.

He now has won seven PGA Tour events, including this year's Greater Milwaukee Open.

The difference?

"Maturity," he said.

"From the time that I turned 40 until now have probably been the best years of golf for me,'' said Roberts, 14th on the money list this year at $1.75 million.

"I still think I can play at this level. I'm pretty fit for my age. I'm staying healthy.''

Mattiace, meanwhile, is seeking his first PGA Tour title. He tied for second in the 1996 Buick Challenge and 1999 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Mattiace sank a 30-foot putt on the sixth hole and a 12-footer on the seventh. "So that was kind of the get-going right there,'' he said.

He added a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 11.

"I played real solid today,'' he said. "I was real happy with the first two rounds.''

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