Colbert’s Five-Shot Lead Not Necessarily Safe

With steady play and clutch putting, Jim Colbert broke away from the pack and took a five-shot lead going into today’s final round of the Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Beach Country Club.

After starting Saturday in a five-way tie for first, Colbert shot a six-under-par 65 to move to nine under for the tournament. Lee Trevino and defending champion George Archer are tied for second at four under, one stroke ahead of seven others.

It’s a big lead, but not necessarily a safe one on the Senior PGA Tour. Last month, Isao Aoki lost a five-shot lead on the final day at Lutz, Fla., taking a nine on a par-four, and Jack Nicklaus won.

Two years ago, Colbert himself led by four strokes going into the final day at Ojai, but Jay Sigel, 10 shots behind, shot 62, forced a playoff with Colbert and won on the fourth extra hole.

Saturday, Colbert bristled when someone reminded him of that performance at Ojai and wondered if that lost opportunity would enter his mind today?

“No, I’m totally positive,” Colbert said. “That wouldn’t even have entered my mind in 100 years. I never thought about Sigel’s 62. I shot 72 and if I had done my job, his 62 wouldn’t have mattered.”

If Colbert continues playing the way he did Friday and Saturday, nothing else will matter. He put together another bogey-free round Saturday, and started with a flurry of birdies.

He made birdies on four of the first five holes and another on the eighth and put some distance between himself and the logjam behind him. His one birdie on the back nine came on a 25-foot putt.

Bob Murphy, playing in the same threesome as Colbert, hung close for much of the round. Murphy got to six under, two behind Colbert, with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 407-yard, par-four ninth. Murphy imitated a basketball referee signaling a made shot after a foul to celebrate the putt, but struggled with his shooting percentage the rest of the way.

Murphy shot 40 on the back nine, including a double-bogey seven on the 492-yard 15th.

Trevino and John Schroeder, two of Friday’s co-leaders, struggled. Trevino, however, finished with three birdies on the final five holes to shoot 70 and get back to four under. Schroeder reached five under with birdies on No. 1 and No. 5, but three-putted from 15 feet on the par-three eighth for a double bogey. After two more birdies and two more bogeys, he had a 71.

Friday’s other leader, Homero Blancas, shot 75 and fell 10 shots off the lead.

Archer, who won this event last year when it was at nearby Mesa Verde Country Club, closed fast, with birdies on 15, 16 and 18. At the time, Colbert had a three-shot lead, which Archer said wasn’t insurmountable. “Things change fast in golf,” he said.