Scott McCarron, seeking a second senior major title to go with his 2017 SENIOR PLAYERS Championship, made his only bogey of the third round on the final hole to slip into a tie for the lead Saturday with Tim Petrovic in the Senior PGA Championship.
They were at 13 under par after Petrovic, seeking his first major, shot 65. McCarron has shared the lead through three rounds.
Tim Petrovic, will be paired in the final group Sunday and it is something new in his first full year as a senior.
“Well, I certainly feel comfortable being in the hunt, being in the last groups,” said McCarron, who shot 66 and has shared the lead after each round this week at Harbor Shores. “I’ve learned a lot over the last couple of years playing with Bernhard Langer. I’ve been fortunate enough to play with him in a lot of final groups and second-to-last groups, and battled it out with him and watched him. So I don’t really let that kind of big moment get to me too much.”
Petrovic, a one-time winner in 2005 on the PGA Tour, will be in the final group for the first time since 2010 in The Memorial.
“That’s where you want to be,” Petrovic said. “Some guys say they don’t want the lead, they would rather chase, but I would rather be in the lead. I would rather be in the last group, that’s where you want to be when you show up here on Tuesday, Wednesday, you want to be in that last group because you have a better chance to win if you’re in that group.”
McCarron, who has hit all 13 fairways in the third round and 24 in a row in the tournament, lamented two missed 4-foot putts in the last four holes. The first was a birdie chance at the par-5 15th and the second at 18 for par after he missed the green.
“I have to putt a little better tomorrow,” he said. “I missed a couple putts today coming in, but all in all it was a good, solid day. I hit the ball right where I was looking most of the time.”
Petrovic also had trouble at 15 when his 5-wood shot glanced off a mound in the fairway and ended up in the river that crosses in front of the green. He scrambled for a bogey.
“I kind of gave a shot back there, but Scott missed his birdie putt there and that kind of gave us a little life,” he said. “We finished strong. I made a putt (at 17) to kind of let him know we were still there.”
Petrovic played in the third-to-last group last week in the Regions Tradition, the first of consecutive majors on the PGA Tour Champions. He said it gave him a taste of being in the mix among the seniors and he has continued to play well.
“I felt really calm all week for some reason,” he said. “I’m just hitting the shots that I know I can hit and I’m driving the ball really well.”
England’s Paul Broadhurst, the 2016 Senior Open winner, matched the best third-round score in tournament history with a 64. He was at 11 under.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, coming off his first major championship last week at the Regions Tradition, shot 65 and was 9 under.
Tom Byrum, who made a hole-in-one in shooting a 67, was in a group at 8 under.
LEADERBOARD
T1 – Tim Petrovic -13 1:35 PM 66 69 65 – 200
T1 – Scott McCarron -13 1:35 PM 66 68 66 – 200
3 – Paul Broadhurst -11 1:26 PM 72 66 64 – 202
4 – Miguel Angel Jimenez -9 1:26 PM 70 69 65 – 204
T5 – Bob Estes -8 1:17 PM 69 71 65 – 205
T5 – Tom Byrum -8 1:17 PM 69 69 67 – 205
T5 – Jerry Kelly -8 1:08 PM 70 65 70 – 205
T5 – Kevin Sutherland -8 1:08 PM 68 66 71 – 205
T9 – Michael Bradley -7 12:59 PM 71 69 66 – 206
T9 – Jesper Parnevik -7 12:59 PM 70 69 67 – 206
T9 – Woody Austin -7 12:50 PM 69 70 67 – 206
T9 – Colin Montgomerie -7 12:50 PM 69 70 67 – 206
T9 – David Toms -7 12:41 PM 68 68 70 – 206
T9 – Paul Goydos -7 12:41 PM 67 69 70 – 206
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