“Plunk!”
“Clink!”
“Rattle, rattle!”
“Bingo!”
Every putt Ray Floyd stroked Saturday was music to his ears. Every putt went in the hole. Well, it seemed like every putt.
Floyd made birdie putts of 15, 15, 18, 20, 30 and 35 feet. Oh yeah. There was also that gargantuan 4-inch job on No. 15 as well. He handled that one, too, after almost holing out with his sand wedge.
“Incredible,” said Floyd.
Floyd needed only 25 putts in 18 holes.
“Lots of fun. Lots of fun,” said Floyd.
After Thursday’s Ameritech Senior Open pro-am, Floyd had said he would step out on a limb.
Given the difficulty of the tournament’s new home, Floyd said, he would predict a “name” player would win it in this, its first year at Kemper Lakes in Hawthorn Woods.
What Floyd didn’t say was that the “name” atop the final leaderboard might just be his. Holing as many long putts in one round as he remembers rattling into the cup in his 33 years combined on the PGA and Senior PGA Tours, Floyd shot a 7-under-par 65 Saturday to whittle Walter Morgan’s lead down to a single stroke heading into Sunday’s final 18 holes.
Give Morgan credit. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t melt, though he might have if he had been watching Floyd’s magic show on TV.
Morgan withstood Floyd’s charge with a 70 of his own that put him at 11-under 133. Chi Chi Rodriguez, after a 66, Graham Marsh and David Graham are five shots back at 138.
Sunday’s glamor group of Floyd, Morgan and Rodriguez tees off at 12:30 p.m.
“Ray’s a tough man to beat,” said Morgan, who birdied three of his last six holes after a rain delay. “I’ll just do the best I can and try not to worry about him. Chi Chi? I’ve played with him several times and it (his antics) doesn’t bother me at all anymore. Typically, Sundays are my best round. Sundays fire me up.”
Floyd was inspired by a different day of the week: Saturday.
“Boys, I’ll tell ya,” said Floyd after detailing his birdie putts of 18 feet on No. 6, 15 feet on Nos. 10 and 11, 30 feet on No. 14 , 20 feet on No. 17 and 35 feet on No. 18, “that’s the best long-putting round maybe in my career. I’ve seen others do it, but I don’t think I’ve ever made that many long ones. Boy, it’s fun. Boy, it’s fun.”
Floyd’s best putt may have been the wide-bending 30-footer he rolled over a crown in the 14th green seconds before the rain came. It tied him with Morgan at 8 under.
“I was so focused today,” said Floyd, “I didn’t even know what I shot. When we were through, Graham (Marsh) said `a 65?’ I said `I don’t know.’ I just felt real good over the putter.”
After a 2-hour, 14-minute delay, action resumed on the course–now nearly empty of spectators. Morgan immediately showed he could take Floyd’s punch, rolling in an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 13 to regain the lead by a shot.
Rodriguez credited his 66, his low round this year, to a 26-inch putter he borrowed from his 6-year-old niece.
“I’m going to keep using it,” said Rodriguez. “I’ve been throwing 12, 15 shots away a tournament on putting. I told my manager I’ve had it. I can’t win anymore. I haven’t putted this well since I won (Burnet Senior Classic) in Minnesota three years ago.”
First-year Senior Tour player Rick Acton was only two shots out of the lead when the rain came, but after the resumption of play he experienced a worse kind of water torture. After getting to 8 under par, Acton bogeyed the 17th hole. He finished with a triple-bogey 7 at No. 18, where he hit two balls into the water for his 71. Acton is seven shots behind.
