PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: THIRD ROUND : McCumber, Weibring Share One-Shot Lead

Does anyone out there want to win the PGA Championship?

If so, show up at the PGA National golf course here today and take your chances. Apparently, no one around here is serious about winning the last of 1987’s major golf titles.

One after another, as soon as a golfer pulled into the lead Saturday, he started stumbling. It happened to Lanny Wadkins, then Raymond Floyd and finally Seve Ballesteros--three of the game’s top players.

The two leaders after 54 holes are D. A. Weibring, winner of the 1979 Quad Cities Open, and Mark McCumber, a former ministry student who started the tournament last Thursday with a triple bogey on the first hole.

At 212 they are four shots under par, which has been the leading score each of the three days. After a week of steamy conditions, the heat and humidity dropped, but the scores didn’t change much.

When Weibring and McCumber moved ahead, there were no holes left in which to falter.

Weibring found the way to avoid PGA National’s dreaded Bermuda grass rough--by hitting every fairway off the tee--and finished with a five-under-par 67 to equal the Champion course record. He is the only player this week to play a round without a bogey.

However, he inherited the lead while sitting in the clubhouse when Ballesteros double bogeyed the 16th hole and then bogeyed the 18th.

McCumber birdied the day’s final hole for his second straight 69 and a share of the top spot with Weibring.

Only one shot back with 18 holes to play for the $150,000 winners share of the $900,000 PGA purse are Floyd and Bobby Wadkins, who both made strong moves late in the day to finish at 213.

Floyd, who shared the 36-hole lead with Lanny Wadkins, had a 73, while Bobby Wadkins, the first-day leader, had 71.

Lanny, after making birdies on two of the first three holes to take a two-stroke lead, slipped to a 74 and is at 214 with Ballesteros.

Larry Nelson, like Floyd and Lanny Wadkins, a former PGA winner, is alone at 215 after a 73. At even par 216 are Ben Crenshaw, 74, and David Frost, 71.

Curt Byrum, a native South Dakotan who learned to play on sand greens, was six under par after 16 holes and was a threat to break the course record until he double bogeyed the 17th hole and finished with a 68 for a 217 total, where he is tied with Curtis Strange, 71; Nick Price, 70; and Don Pooley, 73.

If Weibring or McCumber should win, it would make 19 straight major championships won by a different player, and it would be the first major tournament win for each of this year’s winners.

Larry Mize in the Masters, Scott Simpson in the United States Open and Nick Faldo in the British Open were all first-time major winners.

Weibring’s 67 tied a course record set by three club professionals, Jim Albus, Ed Dougherty and Scott Mahlberg. Arnold Palmer shot a 63 here during the 1984 PGA Seniors championship, but the tees were 500 yards shorter.

A sore wrist contributed to Weibring’s round of five birdies and no bogeys.

“The wrist was sore from trying to hit out of this rough the last couple of days,” Weibring explained. “Because of it, I decided on the driving range to get into a slower rhythm, take more club than usual and keep my focus on hitting good shots, one at a time.”

Weibring was driving so straight and hitting his irons so well that he didn’t have a putt of more than 18 feet in the first 11 holes. He made four of them for birdies, from 3, 1, 3 and 12 feet.

“You can’t attack this golf course, you have to get along with it,” Weibring said. “I’ve only missed about five fairways all week and that’s why I’m where I am (in the lead). Maybe one reason I’m driving so straight is because I’m afraid I’ll hurt my wrist if I have to hit my ball out of the rough.”

Weibring, who resents being known primarily for having won only the Quad Cities Open, said he had a special feeling about the PGA Championship because he worked as an apprentice and assistant pro after he finished college at Illinois State.

“I know how hard these club pros have to work around the shop, having done it myself, so I appreciate their getting a chance to be in this tournament,” he said. There has been substantial criticism from some players that the 40 club pros only clutter up the field.

Only seven of the 40 made the 36-hole cut. Low after 54 holes is Jim Woodward, former Southern California PGA champion when he was the head pro at Wood Ranch. Woodward, who shot 69-220, has since moved to Oklahoma City.

“I think in 10 years on the Tour I have done more than just win the Quad Cities,” Weibring said. “I have played very well in three of the last four majors, and in 1985 I won two tournaments overseas, the Polaroid Cup in Japan and the New Zealand Open.

“I am looking forward to tomorrow. I’ve been around and I welcome the challenge. My goal is unchanged, I want to be a winner.”

McCumber sees local knowledge as his strongest weapon today.

“I grew up in Florida playing on Bermuda grass greens and hitting out of Bermuda grass rough, so nothing I’ve seen here has surprised me,” he said. “If I didn’t know all about the rough before, I learned my lesson on my first hole Thursday when I tried to advance my ball toward the hole, instead of just hacking it out.”

McCumber, who is one of the strongest players on the tour, said he took three “vicious swipes, as hard as I could swing with my 60- degree wedge” and moved the ball less than a foot the first time, five feet the next time and then another five feet to the fairway.

“I got up and down for a (triple- bogey) seven, a great seven I might add.”

McCumber had no such lapses Saturday as he made three birdies on the final nine to move to the top.

“You have to be aggressive, but you have to be careful,” he said. “There’s a fine line there. I rode it on the last hole.”

McCumber hit a solid drive on the 541-yard No. 18. He had 249 yards to the hole with only a narrow opening.

“It was touch and go if I should go for the green. I talked it over with my caddy and decided to try it. I hit as solid a 3-wood as I’ve ever hit, and it went like it was on radar. I thought it might even go in for a double eagle, but the ball bounced about 30 feet to the back of the green and I got down in two putts for my birdie.

“It was a great feeling to pull that shot off, though, at that time.”

Ballesteros, who earlier had a two-shot lead, did not fare so well with his late-hole decisions.

On No. 16, a difficult hole that calls for a long carry over water on the second shot, the dashing Spaniard used a 2-iron off the tee to be on the safe side--and hit it into the lake.

Because his shot did not carry as far as he would have liked, Ballesteros had to lay-up after taking a drop with a stroke penalty and wound up with a double bogey 6.

On No. 18, a 541-yard par 5, he again played it safely off the tee with a 1-iron--but hit the water on his second shot.

“I hit my driver very straight all day, but when I hit iron off the tee I miss the fairway,” he explained. “I missed four fairways, and three of them were when I hit irons.

“I have a new attitude, you know. That is why I am smiling. I am trying to convince myself that I am happy as long as I do my best. And today my best is two under (par).”

Floyd, who has won two PGAs and last year’s U.S. Open, also found it difficult to smile.

“I wasted a heck of a round,” he said. “I drove it excellent. I only missed two fairways, so I should have had more birdie opportunities.

“And I missed some opportunities when I reached the greens, too. They were very difficult to putt today, very crusty and hard to keep your ball on line. I might have been a lot more upset but I birdied the last two holes, so I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

As McCumber said: “It’s a whole lot better having to face the pressure tomorrow than shooting 79 and going off at 10 o’clock, and no one cares.”

That’s what Greg Norman and Arnold Palmer will be doing. They both shot 79 and will be in the first threesome off this morning.