Colbert Breaks Away With His Steady Play

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 the day in a five-way tie for first, Colbert shot six-under 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 at three-under.

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, taking a nine on a par-four hole, and Jack Nicklaus eventually won.

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

Saturday, Colbert bristled when he was reminded of Ojai 1994--would that lost opportunity enter his mind tomorrow?

“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.

Colbert, who won four events and was the senior tour’s leading money-winner last year, made birdies on four of the first five holes and another on the eighth and put some distance between the logjam behind him.

He made putts of six, eight, and three putts of 15 feet for the birdies, apparently having little trouble with the greens that were giving others fits. “It’s like putting on a mattress,” Trevino said coming off the 10th green.

Colbert was never in serious trouble on the fairways either, and made pars the rest of the way, except for a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 12 that moved him to nine under.

“I’m playing pretty well,” Colbert said. “It’s still called golf, but I expect to play well tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.

“The challenge is to go do it. We don’t have a conclusion until Sunday. It’s not like a World Series game, at least you win that game and that game is over. In golf, nothing matters until you put it all together.”

Bob Murphy, playing in the same threesome as Colbert, hung close for much of the round. Murphy got to six under, two behind Colbert at the time, with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 407-yard, par-four ninth. Murphy celebrated the putt by imitating a basketball referee signaling two points after a foul, 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, when he double-hit a chip shot.

Trevino and John Schroeder, two of Friday’s co-leaders, barely hung on. Trevino, however, finished with three birdies on the final five holes to shoot 70 and get back to four-under.

“Colbert played awfully well,” Trevino said. “I didn’t hit the ball well on the front nine. I might have tried to make things happen too fast.”

Schroeder reached five-under with birdies on Nos. 1 and 5, but three-putted from 15 feet on the par-three eighth for 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.

Several players made slight moves up the leader board. Hale Irwin and Buddy Allin, who each started the day at one-over, each shot 67, the best rounds of the day other than Colbert’s. They are in the three-under group with Bob Eastwood, who shot 68. Jack Kiefer (69), Al Geiberger (70), Rocky Thompson (70) and Schroeder are there too.

Archer, who won this event last year when it was at nearby Mesa Verde Country Club, did one-stroke better, closing 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,” Archer said. “It’s a funny game. Three shots can disappear on one hole.

“It’s a horse race. I think he’s off and gone but maybe he’s going to lose his rider.”