The Old Course gave the Old Guys fits on Saturday with gusty winds from the Firth of Forth having their way with the field at the Senior Open Championship.
By day’s end, Miguel Angel Jimenez proved the steadiest man in the breeze. His even par round of 72 got him to nine-under par, good enough for a two-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round.
Jimenez will have a lot of quality players in his rear view mirror.
Defending champion Berhard Langer was in at seven-under after shooting 73. He had a golden chance to be within a shot of Jimenez after holing an 80-footer for birdie at the Road Hole, a par four that seldom yields any threes. But Langer then suffered a sloppy three-putt at the 18th to fall back into the group with Stephen Ames (74), Kirk Triplett (73) and Tom Pernice Jr. (71).
Two big names head a group of five players just three shots back at six under — former Open champion Tom Lehman and five-time Open champion Tom Watson. Lehman shot 71, Watson shot 73 after he made double-bogey at the par five 14th.
DeChambeau Tied For Lead, Reed One Back At Porsche:
Bryson DeChambeau will have a chance to win for the first time on the European Tour.
DeChambeau shot a two-under par 70 on Saturday to earn a piece of the 54-hole lead with Englishman Richard McEvoy (69).
One shot back of the leaders is Masters champion Patrick Reed. Reed’s 69 tied him with Matthias Schwab (70).
DeChambeau sounded confident heading into the final 18.
“I hung in there,” said DeChambeau. “On the front nine I had nothing, I was so happy the storm came through because that gave me a little time to get the game back in order and I was able to do that and play well on the back nine. If I’m comfortable out there and I can hit the right shots and have the kind of repeatability that I think I can produce out there, it’s going to be a tough one for anybody to get me.”
