GOLF ROUNDUP : Snead Stumbles, Fumbles but Won’t Fall

J.C. Snead felt the Senior Players Championship tightening around his throat.

“I was choking,” Snead said. “It seemed like every time I’d make a birdie, I’d come back with a bogey. And it wasn’t even on the tough holes. I just had seven- and eight-foot putts for birdies, and I couldn’t make any of them.”

It didn’t matter. Snead had such a big lead he was able to maintain a five-stroke lead with even-par 72 in the third round Saturday at Dearborn, Mich.

Snead finished the day at 13-under-par 203. Dave Stockton and Bob Charles were his nearest challengers in the $1-million event at the TPC of Michigan with 208 totals, Stockton after a 70, Charles after a 72.

Tommy Aaron had a 70 on his third trip over the 6,876-yard course on the outskirts of Detroit and was fourth at 209.

“I haven’t surrendered,” said Snead, who has not won in three years on the senior tour. “Those guys made a pretty good run at me, but I’m hanging in there.”

Snead, who will earn $150,000 if he hangs on for 18 more holes, was a record 13-under at the halfway point in the tournament, considered a major on the senior tour. That was five shots better than Charles, who was at 136.

The players knew the TPC course eventually would bite. Saturday, when the wind came up, it did.

“The greens were a lot faster today,” Snead said. “It’s amazing they would speed up that much. The fairways were almost casual water, they had been watered so much. So, maybe the groundskeepers got it backwards.”

Snead struggled most of the day. He bogeyed the first hole and had another bogey and two birdies on the front nine. A bogey at the par-three 12th dropped him back to 12-under, but he birdied the 18th to finish where he started.

“The putter really let me down,” said Snead, who had only two bogeys in the first 36 holes. “If my putter had been working well, I could have saved two or three strokes, I’m sure.”

Dan Forsman continued his steady play in the third round of the $1.1-million St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., shaving three more strokes off par for a round of 68 and a one-shot lead.

One shot behind Forsman’s 15-under-par 198 through 54 holes were hot-shooting Mike Sullivan, Jay Haas, Rick Fehr and Jim McGovern.

Forsman shook off a bogey five on No. 1 and then methodically worked his way back to the head of the pack.

Birdies at Nos. 2, 4, 7 and 8 allowed Forsman to make the turn at three-under-par 33 and 15 under for the tournament.

Sullivan matched the course record with a nine-under-par 62. Haas had a round of 64. Fehr shot 66 and McGovern 67.

Payne Stewart had six birdies on the front nine but eight pars and a bogey on the back to drop to 12 under.