Irwin’s Proof in the Putting as He Keeps Seven-Shot Lead

Hale Irwin coped with PGA National’s difficult greens as well as anybody Saturday, leaving the defending champion seven strokes clear of the field in the PGA Seniors’ Championship at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Irwin, who built his seven-shot lead Friday with a seven-under-par 65, added a 72 on Saturday for a 10-under 206 total on the Champion course. He had three birdies and three bogeys.

“Little did I think I could shoot even par and maintain a seven-stroke lead,” said Irwin, a three-time U.S. Open winner. “But the greens have been cut very tight. They are drying out quickly and getting very crusty.

“If you can find the line and have the stroke, you can make some putts, but they are cut so low it’s hard to see the grain. Tee to green, I did what I wanted to, but it was just the reverse once I got there. I played with one of the best putters around, Bob Charles, and he had a bad putting day too.”

Larry Gilbert shot a 70 to move into second place at 213. First-round leader John Bland of South Africa and England’s John Morgan followed at 215. Bland shot a 71 and Morgan had a 72.

“You just don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Gilbert, who won the PGA Club Professional championships on this course in 1981 and 1982.

“Greg Norman, the No. 1 player in the world, lost a six-stroke lead the last day last year at the Masters. And three years ago, Ray Floyd lost a four-shot lead on the last nine holes here.”

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Nick Price moved a step closer to his first American victory in three years, taking a two-shot lead in the MCI Classic at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Price shot a two-under 69 for a 10-under 203 and led through three rounds for the first time since winning the PGA Championship in 1994. At Harbour Town, he rolled in an 18-inch birdie putt on the 18th hole to close two ahead of Brad Faxon. Tom Lehman, last year’s PGA player of the year, was three back at 206.

“There’s nothing better than playing good golf under pressure,” Price said. “That’s the ultimate kick and I missed that.”

Price was the world’s best golfer with 12 victories, including three in majors, between 1992 and 1994. But he grew tired of the lifestyle that took him away from his family and hindered his practice.

After more than two seasons of flawed chips and short-armed putts, Price is looking like the champion he was. At Harbour Town, he continued his deadeye iron play and accurate putting. He got to 11 under with birdies on the 10th and 11th holes and threatened to pull away.

However, he hit two bunkers on the 13th for a bogey and missed a twisting comebacker from three feet on the 15th for another. Price held it together on the three toughest holes--the wind-swept 16th, 17th and 18th--to extend the lead.

After winning at New Orleans on Easter, Faxon missed the cut in the Masters. But he regained his winning touch at Harbour Town and was the hottest putter in the third round, one-putting 10 of 11 holes during one stretch. After a bogey on the 12th dropped him from a tie with Price, Faxon parred out for a 70.

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Cathy Johnston-Forbes, the sister of course-designer Clyde Johnston, shot a six-under 66 for a share of the third-round lead in the Susan G. Komen International at Murrells Inlet, S.C.

“A lot of people think I’ve seen the course before, but Monday was the first time I’ve seen it,” said Johnston-Forbes, who matched second-round leader Nanci Bowen at eight-under 208 on the Wachesaw East course.

Johnston-Forbes made 25-foot birdie putts on Nos. 3, 6, 9 and 11, but failed to capitalize on numerous short attempts, missing a two-footer for birdie on the par-five seventh hole.

Bowen shot a 70, parring the first 12 holes before making short birdie putts at Nos. 13 and 14. Like Johnston-Forbes, Bowen’s only LPGA victory came in a major championship, the 1995 Nabisco Dinah Shore.

Rosie Jones (66) and Lorie Kane (67) were one back at 209, with Australian star Karrie Webb (66) and Michelle McGann (68) at 210.