Monty heading for another US Senior Major

By Rich Skyzinski

FRENCH LICK, Indiana — The first time Colin Montgomerie saw the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort, he realised a golfer needed to tread lightly.
“Mentally, you’ve got to be very careful here,” said Montgomerie. “Normally in a round of golf you’ve got a couple of holes where you’re like, ‘OK, I can make an easy par here.’ There’s nothing here like that. Every hole is a potential double bogey, so you’ve got to be very careful.”
While others all around him found a land mine at one point or another in Saturday’s third round of the 76th Senior PGA Championship, Montgomerie, the defending champion, kept his stumbles to a minimum. With an opening-hole bogey the lone blemish on a 2-under-par 70, Montgomerie finished the day at 5-under 211, good enough for a three-shot edge over Bernhard Langer, whose 69 was highlighted by an eagle at the par-4 eighth.
“I was delighted with the day’s performance,” said Montgomerie.
 “I’m very proud of what I achieved today because you had to play chess with the course. ... You’ve got to think about things. You’ve got to course manage your way around.
"But I came here to be in contention on Saturday evening and I am."
Tom Lehman had the lead to start the day, but he bogeyed four of his first seven holes on the incoming nine, three-putted the 18th and, with a 6-over-par 78, fell all the way back into a tie for 13th, seven strokes behind Montgomerie.
“I putted horribly,” said Lehman. “At the end I couldn’t even make it from 3 feet.” Lehman finished the day with four three-putts and 34 in all, and through three rounds, only one player in the weekend field of 76 has taken more putts than Lehman, the 2010 Senior PGA champion.
The worst of Lehman’s eight bogeys came at the par-4 15th, the day’s second-hardest hole where only 18 percent of the field was able to hit the green in regulation. 
He drove it into knee-high fescue, barely advanced the ball on his second shot, eventually found the green on his fourth and made a 12-footer to save 5.
Brian Henninger was tied for the lead, but he lost a ball on his second shot at the par-5 16th and made 8. His 2-over 74 left him tied for third and four shots behind the leader with Esteban Toledo and Scott Verplank.
“I just kind of kept parring it to death,” said Verplank of his 70, “and I didn’t drive it very good. I’m going to need to drive it a little better tomorrow to have a real shot. But the course is so hard that pars are not awful on most holes.”
Toledo had the lead on his front side, and though he made six birdies in his round, double bogeys at two par 3s prevented him from making a serious run at the lead.
“It was a tough day,” said Toledo. “The wind wasn’t blowing like yesterday, but the pin placements were hiding up in the corners and we couldn’t get real close to them. 
" ... But everybody’s doing the same thing. It’s not like it’s just me. The course is tough and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be tough tomorrow.”
Langer had half a dozen players in front of him when he came to the par-4 eighth. He drove it in the fairway, then hit a 162-yard 7-iron into the hole.
“That’s a wonderful thing,” said Langer, a four-time Champions Tour player of the year. “That’s one of the hardest holes out here. To make a 2 there, you pretty much gain two and a half shots on the field, which is really a bonus.”
Making one of the biggest moves of the day was former Masters winner Ian Woosnam, who finished at 1-over-par 217 after he passed 25 players with a 4-under-par 68 that easily could have been much better. A bogey at the par-5 16th was the only thing that stood between Woosnam and the week’s first bogey-free round, but more noteworthy was that he missed four birdie putts from 5 feet or less, including three in a row starting at the 10th.
“The 68 is about the worst I could have been,” said Woosnam, who, at 57, became the third-oldest first-time winner on the Champions Tour earlier this year at the Insperity Invitational in suburban Houston. “Yeah, it could have been a lot better.”
As Woosnam looks back on his first 54 holes, he’s having trouble dismissing the one-stroke penalty he received during Thursday’s opening round. Could it be a pivotal moment in his chances on Sunday?
At the No. 1 green (his 10th hole of the day), Woosnam addressed his ball to tap in for par. The ball moved after he grounded his club and addressed the ball, and after calling for a rules official and discussing the situation after his round, it was determined that a one-stroke penalty be given.
“I hope that one-shot penalty . . . doesn’t count because that’s something that’s been on my mind for the last couple of days. But, yeah, if the wind starts blowing (this afternoon) and the guys come back at sort of level par, I’m only three behind. That would be fantastic.”

\There are two Scots in the top 10 with Sandy Lyle sharing sixth place on  216 with ever-improving scores. 

Senior PGA Championship Par 72 Yardage: 7,147

Pos	Name	1	2	3	4
1	Colin Montgomerie	72	69	70	-	-	F	-5	211
2	Bernhard Langer	73	72	69	-	-	F	-2	214
T3	Brian Henninger	74	67	74	-	-	F	-1	215
T3	Esteban Toledo	74	68	73	-	-	F	-1	215
T3	Scott Verplank	73	72	70	-	-	F	-1	215
T6	Woody Austin	73	71	72	-	-	F	E	216
T6	Steve Jones	78	70	68	-	-	F	E	216
T6	Sandy Lyle	75	71	70	-	-	F	E	216
T9	Paul Goydos	75	70	72	-	-	F	+1	217
T9	Skip Kendall	74	72	71	-	-	F	+1	217
T9	Tom Pernice Jr.	73	73	71	-	-	F	+1	217
T9	Ian Woosnam	76	73	68	-	-	F	+1	217
T13	Tom Lehman	73	67	78	-	-	F	+2	218
T13	Chien-Soon Lu	76	72	70	-	-	F	+2	218
T13	Jeff Maggert	76	73	69	-	-	F	+2	218
T13	Jean-Francois Remesy	72	72	74	-	-	F	+2	218
T17	Olin Browne	79	69	71	-	-	F	+3	219
T17	Joe Durant	75	71	73	-	-	F	+3	219
T17	Joel Edwards	76	70	73	-	-	F	+3	219
T17	Jerry Haas	73	74	72	-	-	F	+3	219
T17	Massy Kuramoto	71	72	76	-	-	F	+3	219
T17	Peter Senior	75	74	70	-	-	F	+3	219
T17	Kevin Sutherland	75	74	70	-	-	F	+3	219
T24	Roger Chapman	79	70	71	-	-	F	+4	220
T24	Kiyoshi Murota	73	74	73	-	-	F	+4	220
T24	Jesper Parnevik	78	71	71	-	-	F	+4	220
T24	Jeff Sluman	74	73	73	-	-	F	+4	220
T24	Jerry Smith	73	77	70	-	-	F	+4	220
T24	Kirk Triplett	76	74	70	-	-	F	+4	220
T30	Michael Allen	76	72	73	-	-	F	+5	221
T30	Mark McNulty	77	74	70	-	-	F	+5	221
T30	Rocco Mediate	76	74	71	-	-	F	+5	221
T33	Bart Bryant	72	74	76	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Russ Cochran	73	77	72	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Marco Dawson	77	72	73	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Nick Faldo	76	75	71	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Mike Goodes	75	75	72	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Jeff Hart	73	78	71	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Eddie Kirby	74	77	71	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Barry Lane	72	76	74	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Grant Waite	74	76	72	-	-	F	+6	222
T33	Chris G. Williams	75	71	76	-	-	F	+6	222
T43	Billy Andrade	72	78	73	-	-	F	+7	223
T43	John Cook	79	69	75	-	-	F	+7	223
T43	David Frost	73	73	77	-	-	F	+7	223
T43	Mark O'Meara	75	76	72	-	-	F	+7	223
T43	Rick Schuller	78	72	73	-	-	F	+7	223
T43	Duffy Waldorf	73	74	76	-	-	F	+7	223
T49	Greg Bruckner	78	74	72	-	-	F	+8	224
T49	Anders Forsbrand	77	74	73	-	-	F	+8	224
T49	Peter Fowler	77	67	80	-	-	F	+8	224
T49	Jay Haas	76	71	77	-	-	F	+8	224
T49	John Riegger	76	74	74	-	-	F	+8	224
T49	Lee Rinker	73	78	73	-	-	F	+8	224
T55	Tommy Armour III	80	72	73	-	-	F	+9	225
T55	Chip Beck	76	73	76	-	-	F	+9	225
T55	Mark Brooks	78	73	74	-	-	F	+9	225
T55	Scott Dunlap	78	73	74	-	-	F	+9	225
T55	Scott Hoch	74	77	74	-	-	F	+9	225
T55	Steve Pate	77	74	74	-	-	F	+9	225
T55	Paul Wesselingh	74	75	76	-	-	F	+9	225
T55	Willie Wood	76	74	75	-	-	F	+9	225
63	Marc Farry	77	75	74	-	-	F	+10	226
T64	Andre Bossert	79	72	76	-	-	F	+11	227
T64	Philip Golding	75	77	75	-	-	F	+11	227
T64	Joey Sindelar	75	76	76	-	-	F	+11	227
T64	Rod Spittle	77	75	75	-	-	F	+11	227
T68	Gene Fieger	75	75	78	-	-	F	+12	228
T68	Sonny Skinner	77	75	76	-	-	F	+12	228
T70	John Dal Corobbo	76	76	77	-	-	F	+13	229
T70	Jim Estes	81	71	77	-	-	F	+13	229
T70	Yutaka Hagawa	75	77	77	-	-	F	+13	229
T70	Kirk Hanefeld	77	71	81	-	-	F	+13	229
T74	Jay Don Blake	76	75	79	-	-	F	+14	230
T74	Gary Hallberg	76	76	78	-	-	F	+14	230
76	Todd McCorkle	78	74	81	-	-	F	+17	233
77	Joe Daley	42	-	-	-	+2	10	+2	42
78	Hal Sutton*	42	-	-	-	+6	9	+6	42
79	John Huston	46	-	-	-	+10	9	+10	46
T80	Guy Boros	73	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	153
T80	Greg Kraft	80	73	MC	MC	-	-	-	153
T80	Steve Lowery	76	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	153
T80	James Mason	78	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	153
T80	Jerry Pate	76	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	153
T80	Wes Short Jr.	80	73	MC	MC	-	-	-	153
T86	Tom Byrum	79	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Dan Forsman	74	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Rick Gibson	78	76	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Bob Gilder	80	74	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Kohki Idoki	78	76	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	John Alexander Jacobs	77	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Peter Jacobsen	80	74	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Cesar Monasterio	79	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Mike Reid	74	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Loren Roberts	80	74	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Jim Schuman	76	78	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Steen Tinning	78	76	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T86	Bob Tway	82	72	MC	MC	-	-	-	154
T99	J.C. Anderson	78	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T99	Ross Drummond	78	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T99	Fred Funk	79	76	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T99	Hale Irwin	75	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T99	Lee Janzen	81	74	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T99	Santiago Luna	80	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T99	Andrew Oldcorn	82	73	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T99	Tracy Phillips	80	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T99	Chip Sullivan	85	70	MC	MC	-	-	-	155
T108	Jeff Coston	81	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T108	Jim Deiters	78	78	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T108	Vicente Fernandez	76	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T108	Rick Lewallen	77	79	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T108	Mark Mielke	81	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T108	Gil Morgan	81	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T108	Jim Rutledge	79	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T108	Steve Schneiter	81	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T108	Bobby Wadkins	81	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	156
T117	Don Berry	80	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	157
T117	John Francisco	78	79	MC	MC	-	-	-	157
T117	Pedro Linhart	82	75	MC	MC	-	-	-	157
T117	Doug Rohrbaugh	84	73	MC	MC	-	-	-	157
T117	Tim Thelen	76	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	157
T122	Mark Calcavecchia	81	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	158
T122	Stephen Keppler	78	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	158
T122	Steve Madsen	80	78	MC	MC	-	-	-	158
T122	Rob Wilkin	81	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	158
T122	Gary Wolstenholme	77	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	158
T127	Mike Baker Jr.	78	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T127	Frank Esposito	78	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T127	Brad Faxon	77	82	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T127	Stu Ingraham	79	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T127	Tom Kite	81	78	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T127	Brent Murray	80	79	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T127	Rod Nuckolls	82	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T127	Gene Sauers	82	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T127	Mark Wiebe	79	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	159
T136	Mark Davis	80	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	160
T136	George Forster	83	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	160
T136	Robert L. Thompson	81	79	MC	MC	-	-	-	160
T139	Brian Cairns	85	77	MC	MC	-	-	-	162
T139	Jose Coceres	80	82	MC	MC	-	-	-	162
T139	Carl Cooper	84	78	MC	MC	-	-	-	162
T139	Jeffrey Roth	81	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	162
T143	Mark Mouland	83	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	163
T143	Craig Stevens	83	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	163
T145	Jim Gallagher Jr.	83	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	164
T145	Ken Green	83	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	164
T145	Morris Hatalsky	86	78	MC	MC	-	-	-	164
T148	Shawn Baker	84	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	165
T148	Bruce Summerhays	82	83	MC	MC	-	-	-	165
T150	Wayne Levi	85	81	MC	MC	-	-	-	166
T150	Gary Trivisonno	83	83	MC	MC	-	-	-	166
152	Bobby Heins	84	83	MC	MC	-	-	-	167
153	John Sikes	88	87	MC	MC	-	-	-	175
T154	Miguel Angel Martin	78	80	MC	MC	-	-	-	158
T154	Jim Woodward	80	78	MC	MC	-	-	-	158
156	Larry Mize	78	WD	WD	WD	-	-	-	78
-	Gordon Manson	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-	Tom Purtzer	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
* player started on back nine.  Calcavecchia reaches breaking point .. twice! It’s been a great week here at the Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Ind., high above the Hoosier National Forest. As spectacular as it looks on television, it’s equally stunning in person. Colin Montgomerie thinks the course will become “iconic” among Pete Dye’s most famous creations, and he’s probably right. If you fancy youself as a “player,” make the trip to French Lick. The Dye Course provides some idea of what it must be like to be a tightrope walker. Missing a shot in the wrong place is a house of horrors, an invitation to disaster. The great Ben Hogan supposedly once said, “Never try a shot you haven’t practised,” but most players at the Dye have to ignore that advice. As you might expect, sometimes players are unable to cope with the frustration. When Mark Calcavecchia, the former Open champion, came to the ninth hole in the second round of the Senior PGA Championship, his boiling point was in apparent full simmer.  He was coming off back-to-back bogeys, and perhaps he also hadn’t completely forgotten the successive double bogeys he made at Nos. 8 and 9 the day before — or the four-putt double — in a 9-over-par 81. Whatever the reason, after his second shot at the par-5 ninth, off a precipitous hillside lie that is common at the Dye Course, Calc snapped the iron over his knee. Minutes later, facing another awkward lie at the same hole, he hit a shot onto the fringe, slammed that club into the ground and broke it, too. Mark’s caddie was his wife, Brenda. Wonder what that conversation on the way home was like. • • • Pete Dye was out watching play at the 18th the other day, but no one asked him if he has gone back to Whistling Straits to do something with the bunker that Dustin Johnson made infamous at the 2010 PGA Championship by being penalized for grounding his club in a hazard. Not that it might make any difference. The championship staff at the PGA of America is still looking at the exact location of hospitality tents along the 18th hole, and there’s more than a slight chance that bunker will find itself buried under a long row of corporate chalets. So, for those keeping score at home, that’s one bunker players need not worry about. Only about a thousand to g