This was the day Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills was supposed to turn into the kind of bogey-spewing venue typically associated with a third round at the U.S. Senior Open. This was the day that the fast greens and slow fades would catch up with the best fiftysomething golfers in the world.
Somebody forgot to tell Don Pooley.
With a Senior Open record of 8-under-par 63 yesterday, Pooley leapfrogged up the leader board and, at 9-under-par 204, charged into the pole position going into the final 18 holes of the 2002 Senior Open.
Pooley, who also tied the USGA scoring record for an Open championship, leads Tom Watson and second-round leader Walter Hall by three strokes. Ed Dougherty is four strokes behind and Tom Kite is five strokes back.
"You don't go out there and say, "I'm going to shoot a 63 today,' " said Pooley, who joined the senior tour after turning 50 last August. "Those rounds just kind of happen. A lot of good things happened today to shoot 63. 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."
A 25-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th hole gave Pooley the lead over Hall, who would bogey the last two holes to finish at 1-over-par 72. Pooley followed it up with a 15-foot putt with a huge left-to-right break to save par and make Senior Open history.
Pooley also joined Johnny Miller, who shot a final-round 63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open at Oakmont in Pennsylvania; Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf, both of whom shot that score in the 1980 U.S. Open at Baltusrol in New Jersey; also Helen Alfredsson at the 1994 U.S. Women's Open at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Minnesota.
"Nobody said anything to me; I had no idea what the U.S. Senior Open record was," said Pooley, whose record eclipsed four players by one stroke, including first-round leader R.W. Eaks. "I'd rather not know that stuff when I'm out there, so that's OK."
A two-time winner on the PGA Tour in a career curtailed by neck and back injuries, Pooley came into the round six shots behind Hall and tied for 10th with six other players. He wound up passing everyone.
Pooley made his biggest move when he birdied four straight holes starting on the par-5 seventh hole to reach 7-under par. After five straight pars, Pooley hit a wedge to 3 feet and made birdie on the par-4 16th hole.
Suddenly, the lead was in sight but didn't enter any of Pooley's conversations.
"We don't talk about how things are going out there," Pooley said. "It's not what you want to think about. When you see your name up on the leader board, your tendency is to look ahead a little bit. So I really had to fight that tendency."
As Pooley charged, those in front of him caved.
Hall, who had reached 10-under with three straight birdies to start the round, made his first bogey in 41 holes at the par-5 seventh, then made bogeys on the par-4 ninth and par-4 13th. He got back to 8-under with a birdie on 16 before the two closing bogeys.
Watson, who had put himself one shot off the lead with three straight birdies to start and briefly tied Hall for the lead at 8-under with another birdie at the par-4 11th, bogeyed the par-4 17th to finish with a 2-under 69.
Kite, who stayed near the lead by playing the first 13 holes in 1-under to get to 7-under for the tournament, played the last five holes in 3-over, including a disastrous double bogey on 17.
"A lot of missed opportunities [on the greens], and it's very disappointing," Watson said. "But that's part of the game. Hogan had it. Palmer had it. Watson has it now. And Kite has it now. It's one part of the game you've got to do well to win."
Said Kite, who finished with a 2-over 73: "We saw what Don did today. There's a low score out there, and I'm going to have to shoot it tomorrow."
Pooley, whose success on the PGA Tour was attributed mostly to his putting, got his stroke back yesterday. After making 29 putts each of the first two rounds, Pooley had 25 in the third round. Only Dana Quigley, who shot 4-under 67, needed as few.
"I've been a good putter my whole career," said Pooley, who twice led the PGA Tour in putting in the late 1980s. "I was a good putter as a kid. I think it's a gift as much as anything. And I'm happy it's back."
Pooley holds the distinction of earning the Vardon Trophy for the PGA Tour's lowest scoring average without winning an event. It came in 1985, five years after he won the B.C. Open and two years before he won The Memorial Tournament as well as $1 million prize for a hole-in-one at Bay Hill, half of which went to a local children's hospital.
By the mid-1990s, Pooley was barely playing. He ruptured a disc in his neck taking a practice swing in January 1992, and underwent fusion surgery. He then underwent back surgery in October 1993. When he didn't recover and further back surgery was recommended, he was told it was unlikely he would play again.
"I started looking around for more conservative ways to go about this problem, and I found a guy named Tom Boers, a back specialist and physical therapist," Pooley said. "I went to him and he saved me from going into surgery again and really turned my back around. It's almost 10 years later and I'm doing very well."
Now comes the hard part, holding onto his lead and emotions in a situation he admittedly hasn't experienced before.
"I'm going to be nervous, like you always are when you're in the lead or fighting for the championship," said Pooley, who contended in several majors and finished two strokes out of a playoff in the 1987 PGA Championship. "I don't expect that to be any different tomorrow. I'm looking forward to having the nerves to deal with it. That's the whole point of getting into contention. That's the fun part of it really."
As Pooley was walking into the interview tent last night, Watson was strolling in.
"A 63, you didn't make any putts, did you?" Watson asked.
"I made one," Pooley said and paused. "About each hole I made one."
In making Senior Open history, it only seemed that way.
Third round
The leader ...
Don Pooley 63-204 ... and selected followers
Tom Watson 69-207 Walter Hall 72-207 Ed Dougherty 68-208 Tom Kite 73-209 Allen Doyle 71-210 Isao Aoki 72-210 John Schroeder 68-211 Fred Gibson 73-211 Bob Gilder 70-212 Jose Maria Canizares 76-212 Jim Thorpe 72-214 Raymond Floyd 74-215 R.W. Eaks 78-215 Hale Irwin 69-216 Complete scores. [Page 13d]
Hot shot
Don Pooley set or tied several records yesterday with his round of 63 at the U.S. Senior Open: Lowest round, U.S. Open(PGA, LPGA or Senior PGA)
Rd. Player Year
63 Johnny Miller 1973
63 Jack Nicklaus 1980
63 Tom Weiskopf 1980
63 Helen Alfredsson 1994
63 Don Pooley 2002
Lowest round, Senior Open
63 Don Pooley 2002
64 Orville Moody 1989
64 Bruce Fleisher 2000
64 Jay Sigel 2001
64 R.W. Eaks 2002
Lowest 3rd round, Senior Open
63 Don Pooley 2002
64 Orville Moody 1989