Small and Schulte share the lead with one round to go
Alan Schulte dominated the early part of the third round on Saturday, birdieing three of his first four holes to claim the lead. But defending champ Mike Small rallied at the end, and they're tied at 9-under 207, three ahead of their nearest pursuers.
By T.J. Auclair, Junior Editor
VERONA, N.Y. -- On a gorgeous, virtually cloudless day with comfortable temperatures hitting the high 70s in central New York, the 92 players who made the cut set out for the third round at the 39th PGA Professional National Championship at Atunyote Golf Club at the Turning Stone Resort Casino Saturday.
And before the beautiful day had ended, it had become quite apparent that defending National Champion Mike Small, the head golf coach at the University of Illinois, isn't ready to surrender his crown just yet.
With a 2-under-par 70, which included a crucial eagle on the fifth hole after a rough start, Small soared into a share of the 54-hole lead with Indiana's Alan Schulte at 9-under 207.
Lee Rinker, John Aber, Chris Starkjohann and Ron Philo are all three shots off the pace at 6-under.
Small's eagle at the fifth came courtesy of a 15-foot putt after a beautiful 5-iron approach.
"That's what you want. You want to be in a position for tomorrow," Small said. ?But I bogeyed two and three today after missing a short birdie putt on No. 1 and I was like, 'oh no.' And then I birdied No. 4 and eagled five, which righted the ship for me a little bit.
"Then I played OK, missed a couple of makeable birdie putts and hit one loose shot on the back nine and made bogey, but the putter saved me coming in," he added. "So we'll hope to have a good round tomorrow. But there're still a lot of guys in this tournament."
If Small can pull off a victory on Sunday, he will become the first back-to-back winner of the National Championship since Larry Gilbert accomplished the feat in 1982.
Schulte, who was the 36-hole leader at 8-under 136, started his round like a bandit with birdies on three of his first four holes.
"It was the kind of start that really helps you get going," he said, after shooting a 1-under 70. "I was actually a little bit nervous this morning, so getting it going early helped me calm down and allowed me to play a little bit more aggressive the rest of the day."
On the first hole, he knocked his approach from just under 100 yards to within two feet of the hole. On the par-3 third, he hit his tee shot to 10 feet and trickled the ball into the cup for his second birdie of the day.
At the fourth hole, 414-yard par 4, Schulte's drive found a bunker to the right of the fairway. With a nice lie and from 161 yards out, he was dead-on with his approach, sticking it pin-high and about 12 feet left of the hole.
Again, he poured the ball in for his third birdie of the day. And when the putt dropped, he was visibly excited and gave a strong fist-pump.
Schulte ran into a mini-disaster at the par-4 13th hole, where he made a double-bogey when his approach shot found the creek that guards the green to drop to 9-under.
"I actually feel like I played better than I scored today," he said. "I hit one loose shot. I guess I kept adding yardage and laid off it too much and unfortunately it went in the water. It was just one bad swing, because I was really pleased with the rest of them."
Schulte's was just one of many back-nine disasters for the men who were at or near the top of the leader board.
Steve Schneiter, the 1995 National Champion who was paired with Schulte on Saturday, saw his chances of a second title disappear over a forgettable four-hole stretch. With a solid round in the works at 9-under through 10 holes, he played holes 11, 12, 13 and 14 in 7-over-par. Two bogeys (11 and 12), a triple-bogey (No. 13) and a double-bogey (No. 14) knocked him out of contention.
Schneiter finished at 1-under total and enters Sunday's final round eight shots out of the lead.
Philo had the shot of the day with an eagle at the par-4 14th, by holing a 114-yard shot with a 54-degree gap wedge that temporarily put him at 9-under and in a share of the lead. However, he gave it right back with a double-bogey on the next hole on a sinful three-putt from five feet.
"There're 18 holes left. I made the turn thinking there're 27 holes left, let's see if we can't get into a position to win," said Philo, who has finished in the National Championship's top five in each of the last three years. "Despite the fact that I kind of threw up all over myself coming in, nobody is really out there running away. It's kind of offense on accident. A lot of people are allowing me to be in a position where I can try to win the tournament tomorrow."
Jerry Haas was the hottest player on the course early on. Starting the day at even par, eight shots back, the 42-year-old head coach of the Wake Forest University golf team and younger brother of Senior PGA Champion Jay Haas, was 5-under after 14 holes, but after a couple of bogeys on the way in, he finished with a 68 that left him at 4-under for the tournament and five shots off the pace.
"No question I made a move," he said. "I hit it to about 1-foot away from the cup on No. 5 and tapped it in for an eagle and then made a nice birdie on No. 8. The eagle gave me momentum for the rest of my round. Sometimes an eagle can really get you going and it definitely did in my case."
Donald Yrene, Greg Bisconti and Don Berry all finished at 5-under and trail the leaders by four.
There is a lot to play for on Sunday. The winner will get a record $75,000, the Walter Hagen Cup and six PGA Tour exemptions, while the top 20 finishers will earn a spot in the 88th PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club in August.
"That would be huge [to finish in the top 20]. It would obviously be nice to win the tournament, but I've gotten a lot better mentally as far as not thinking about trying to win, or top 20, or whatever," Yrene, playing in his fifth National Championship said. "I've been really good at staying in the current situation and not getting ahead.
"When the bad stuff happens I'm getting better of getting rid of that and staying focused on what's in front of me right here and now -- staying in the present," he explained. "But, with all that said, that's what I'm going to try and do tomorrow. Obviously I would love to play in the PGA Championship; that's one of the four majors. That would be huge. It would be a great experience and I would love to do that for sure."
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