GOLF ROUNDUP : Price Leads Target Practice in Texas

South African Nick Price shot a seven-under-par 63 Saturday and took a two-shot lead after three rounds of the $800,000 Texas Open at San Antonio.

Price, twice a runner-up but yet to win this year, said when he saw early on that Billy Ray Brown was tearing the Oak Hills course apart he realized “there were birdies to be made.”

And he went for the jugular.

“Although I started cautiously with a par at the first hole, I almost holed an eight-iron at No. 2,” Price said. “I chipped in for a birdie at the third hole and never looked back.”

Price’s bogey-free round under perfect playing conditions gave him a 54-hole total of 194, 16 under par, and a two-shot lead over first-round leader Gary Hallberg, who shot a 64.

After scores of 65, 66 and 63 on the 6,576-yard Oak Hills course, Price is in position to match the all-time tour record for 72 holes with another 63 today.

Eight players enter the showdown round within four strokes of the lead, including 1988 Texas Open champion Corey Pavin, whose eight-under-par 62 was the top score of the day. He is at 197 in the race for the $144,000 first prize.

Al Geiberger set a tournament record, but Charles Coody took the lead in the $1.5-million Vantage Seniors Championship at Clemmons, N.C.

Coody birdied each par-five on the Tanglewood Country Club course and put on a birdie-birdie finish for a seven-under-par 65 that gave him a one-stroke lead going into today’s final round of the richest tournament on the Senior PGA Tour.

Geiberger one-putted 11 times in an eight-under-par 64 that broke the record of 65 set by Dave Hill in 1987.

Beth Daniel shot a four-under-par 68 and moved four shots ahead of Patty Sheehan and Nancy Lopez in a $1-million LPGA tournament at Tallahassee, Fla.

Daniel’s round followed a career-best 63 Friday and gave her a 14-under 202 total after three rounds.

Sheehan slipped to a two-over 74 Saturday, and Lopez carded a 69, leaving them tied at 206 going into today’s final round at the 6,332-yard Killearn Country Club course.