Pooley leads after record round

Miller. Nicklaus. Weiskopf. Pooley?

Fortunate just to have qualified, Don Pooley matched an Open Championship record Saturday, carding an 8-under-par 63 for a three-stroke lead over Tom Watson and Walter Hall after the third round of the U.S. Senior Open.

Competing in his first full season on the Senior PGA Tour, Pooley established a U.S. Senior Open record with his 63. Four other players had recorded 64s, most recently R.W. Eaks on Thursday.

The 50-year-old Pooley also went as low as anyone ever has at one of the USGA's three professional stroke-play tournaments while recording his best round in 16 years.

A two-time winner in 540 PGA Tour starts, Pooley added his name to a record book that includes Johnny Miller (1973), Jack Nicklaus (1980) and Tom Weiskopf (1980) -- each of whom carded 63s in U.S. Open competition.

"I had no idea what the U.S. Senior Open record was," Pooley said. "I knew 63 was the U.S. Open record. I remember watching Johnny Miller hit it, and I know Nicklaus and Weiskopf had it at Baltusrol in the same round."

Helen Alfredsson has the only 63 in U.S. Women's Open history, doing so in 1994.

Pooley won the B.C. Open in 1980 and the Memorial in 1987, but a pair of back surgeries kept him winless over his final 14 years on the PGA Tour.

He recorded five top-10 finishes in seven Senior Tour starts last year and didn't exactly enter this week with a lot of confidence after getting off to a rocky start in 2002.

"You don't go out and say, 'I'm going to shoot a 63 today,' kind of thing," said Pooley, who had a career-low 61 at the 1986 Phoenix Open. "Those rounds just kind of happen."

The affable Arizona native has not finished better than ninth in 14 starts this year and was lucky to play in this event, needing a birdie on the final hole of qualifying just to make it to a playoff.

He has taken advantage of his opportunity, totaling 18 birdies, seven bogeys and a double-bogey en route to a 54-hole total of 9-under 204. Unfortunately, no 54-hole leader has won this event since Graham Marsh in 1997.

"I haven't had opportunities like this," he said. "I've never been leading after three rounds of a major championship, so this is new territory for me."

Watson started his day with three birdies before setting for a 2-under 69. The Hall of Famer is tied for second with Hall at 207 and will play with Pooley in the final round Sunday.

Hall also opened with three birdies but shot a 72.

Ed Dougherty (68) is fourth at 208, a stroke better than Tom Kite (73) and two ahead of Allen Doyle (71) and Isao Aoki of Japan (72).

Pooley started well, rolling in birdies on three of his first four holes around a bogey at the second. He had the putter working, rolling in putts of eight and 15 feet following a tap-in at No. 1.

After consecutive pars, including an eight-foot putt at No. 6, Pooley made four straight birdies, two-putting at the par-5 seventh, sinking 10-footers at the eighth and ninth and hitting a five-footer at the 10th.

"That was a good stretch," he said.

Pooley settled for five pars in a row before starting a superb finishing stretch with a three-foot birdie putt at the 16th. He then rolled in a 25-footer for birdie at No. 17.

"That one went right in the heart, fortunately, because it was picking up speed, I think, coming down the hill for birdie," he said.

Pooley ran into trouble at the 18th by driving into a fairway bunker. His approach was 30 yards short of the green, but he chipped to 15 feet and made a left-to-right bending putt for a record-setting par.

"A lot of good things happened today to shoot 63," he said. "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."

Watson will be trying to become just the eighth player in history to win the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open during his career. Even if he hadn't claimed the U.S. Open, this one still would be special.

"It's one of the two most important Senior Tour tournaments -- PGA and this one," he said. "And it means a heck of a lot winning your national Open."

After his strong start, Hall bogeyed five of the last 12 holes. But he's still in contention for his first major title in five six years on the Senior Tour.

"I was probably more nervous after I made two or three birdies than I was making two or three bogeys," he said. "So I just want to play golf tomorrow, and whatever happens, happens."

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