Poor Finish Prevents Jacobs From Cruising

Working on a runaway at the Toshiba Senior Classic Saturday, John Jacobs stumbled and lost all but one stroke of his lead going into today’s final round at Newport Beach Country Club.

Jacobs earlier was poised to add to a four-stroke lead, but made a double bogey on the par-three 17th. He also made pars on the relatively easy par-five 15th and 18th holes and finished with his second consecutive four-under 67.

“I gave away four strokes at the end pretty quick,” Jacobs said. “It makes for better viewing tomorrow. But I really could have got away from the field a little bit if I had finished at all.

“In fact, I think you could say it’s one of the worst finishes a guy could have.”

Because of his late struggles, Jacobs leads Al Geiberger (66), Gary McCord (68) and Dana Quigley (67) by only one stroke. Allen Doyle is another stroke back at six under and four others, including defending champion Hale Irwin, stand at five under. Irwin, remember, shot a course-record nine-under 62 to win this tournament last year.

“No amount of lead is safe on this course,” said Jacobs, who won the season-opening MasterCard Championship. “With two par fives to finish anything can happen.”

Jacobs seemed to be on the way to giving himself significant breathing room when from the rough on the par-four 11th, he pitched in from 60 yards for an eagle and followed that with birdies on the next two holes to get to 10 under par for the tournament.

McCord, a longtime friend who was playing in the same group, couldn’t keep pace, even though he birdied 11 and 12. “That’s when I started yelling at him,” McCord said, “ ‘Keep this a game of skill, would you please, Johnny. Keep this a game of skill.’ He started laughing.”

McCord has made a career of keeping the laughs coming, but this week he’s playing serious golf. His 68 included a chip-in from 10 feet off the green for eagle on the par-five third hole. He had two bogeys and finished with a birdie.

McCord, who was winless in a 25-year career on the PGA Tour, said it’s great to be in the hunt for a title.

Quigley, who won two events and $1.4 million last season, got into position with a strong finish. He eagled the 15th with a four-foot putt and birdied the 18th with a five-footer. He will be playing in the final threesome today with Jacobs and Geiberger.

Geiberger, 61, won the MasterCard Champions event for players 60 and older, defeating second-place Butch Baird by four strokes to win $20,000. He put himself in position to win his first full tournament since 1996 with his best round of the year. The 66 also tied him with Dave Stockton for the lowest round of the tournament. Geiberger made seven birdies and two bogeys. “It’s nice to make a lot of birdies,” Geiberger said, “I haven’t done that in a while.”

He made birdies on his first three holes and went on to beat his best round of 1999 by three strokes and matched his best round in two years.

Geiberger’s strong play might have had something to do with who is carrying his bag, his son John. John caddied for his father off and on for about six years but hasn’t done it much since he became golf coach at Pepperdine.

With John taking a long weekend away from Malibu, Geiberger said he was feeling quite comfortable. “I don’t have to second-guess him,” Geiberger said. “We both hit the ball the same. We’re both short.”