Stockton Lets Field Catch Up : Senior golf: He shoots a 72 but holds one-stroke lead over Douglass.

Dave Stockton, his usually powerful iron game slightly awry, came back to the pack Friday at La Costa Resort and Spa.

Although the 52-year-old former USC golfer still leads the senior division of the Mercedes Championships, he is no longer ahead of all the regular PGA Tour players. But despite one of his poorest rounds in months, Stockton trailed overall leader Phil Mickelson by only a shot.

“I don’t know if I’m happy, sad or indifferent,” Stockton said after shooting an even-par 72. He has a 139 for 36 holes, five under par and leads Dale Douglass by one shot in the senior event.

Some pretty solid contenders closed in on him.

Jack Nicklaus, hitting some tremendous tee shots, rediscovered his putting touch and had three birdies on the back nine to pull within three shots of Stockton. Nicklaus had a 69 to go with an opening 73 and is tied with Lee Trevino at 142.

Ahead of them is Bob Murphy, the seniors’ 1993 rookie of the year, who had 70 and a 36-hole total of 141. Bob Charles, after two early birdies, faded and is at 142.

With 36 holes to play, Stockton will have to straighten out his iron shots to hold off such hot contenders.

“I hit my drives really well all day, but my irons are my strength,” Stockton said. “I’ll go to the practice tee and find out what’s wrong. I’m just glad it isn’t Sunday. You can’t play like that on the final round.

“Actually, my caddie was probably right when he said that my main problem was I had to think out there. When everything is going good, like it was for me (Thursday), you don’t have to think.”

Stockton sank putts of 22 and seven feet for birdies to go seven under after two holes of the second round.

Then he put shots in sand traps on Nos. 4 and 9.

“But it was pulling all those nine-irons that killed me,” Stockton said. “I hit a driver 240 yards off the fairway closer to the pin than I was with any nine-iron.”

Nicklaus was enthusiastic about his play.

“I’m getting used to the swing change and am really hitting my drives,” he said. “All I can say, though, is that I have played 36 holes and I feel fine.”

Nicklaus, who complained that he had lost 30 or 40 yards on his drives before changing his swing, had his best drive on 18.

It is a 421-yard par-four hole into the wind. “I measured it as 144 yards from the center of the green,” he said. “How far is that?” It figures to 277 yards.

Douglass, who often plays his best golf in Southern California, sank two 20-foot putts for birdies and another from 12 feet.

Douglass qualified for this tournament by winning at Rancho Park in the next-to-last tournament of 1993.

Douglass, trailing the best of the regular tour players by only two shots, said talk about the seniors doing so well probably should stop.

“We’re talking about a sleeping giant,” he said. “I don’t want to make the juniors mad.”