UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio — Another day, another leader at the U.S. Senior Open Championship.
Miguel Angel Jimenez battled gusty winds and sheets of rain on the 18th hole to shoot a 1-under 69 Saturday and grab a 1-stroke lead after the third round of the tournament at the Scioto County Club in suburban Columbus. He’s at 3-under 207 after 54 holes.
Despite three bogeys on the windy back nine, the 52-year-old Spaniard finished as one of just four players who were below par for the day.
Jimenez started the day three shots off the lead. After two birdies on the front nine, he birdied the 12th before carding bogeys on the 13th and 14th, a birdie on the 15th and another bogey on the 16th. He finished with a pair of pars just as sheets of driving rain rolled in on top of the suffocating heat and humidity that’s worn down the players all week.
"The conditions, they are tough today, especially because of the wind," Jimenez said. "The greens were softer on the first two rounds, but it’s the gusting wind there that (makes it) not easy to choose the club, the right club. Sometimes it will go a place that you don’t (want) to, you know?"
Gene Sauers also battled the wind and had an up-and-down day with four birdies and five bogeys, finishing with a 71 to put him in second place, one stroke off the lead. He shot a 68 on Thursday and 69 Friday.
"The heat, the wind, the rain on the last hole — it was a brutal day," said the 53-year-old Sauers, who has never won a senior tournament in five seasons but has 17 top-10 finishes.
Ian Woosnam, Loren Roberts and Billy Mayfair were in a tie for third at 1-over par.
The leader after Friday’s round, Joey Sindelar, shot at 77 Saturday and slipped to 2-over and into a tie for sixth place.
"Golf’s hard," he said. "U.S. Open’s harder. And I thought for the most part, I was pretty happy with the way I played. It wasn’t horrible. Just a couple of uglies, and it played hard out there. Problem is, we’ve got a pretty good guy out there in the lead and a couple more really good ones right behind him."
Thursday’s leader, Vijay Singh, is 6 over and nine shots off the lead after shooting 75 Friday and Saturday.
Jimenez finished in the top 10 in six of the seven senior events he’s played in this year, winning the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic in April. He finished second at three others. He lost the 3M Championship earlier this month in a playoff with Joe Durant, who made a double eagle on the first playoff hole.
As for Sunday, Jimenez said he’ll "just keep playing golf and give myself patience. That’s the main thing. Whatever happens happens.
"Of course," he added, "you have to enjoy yourself."
