Watson leads by 4 in Senior Players

By The Associated Press; The Associated Press
TIMONIUM, Md. — Tom Watson is feeling good and likes his game these days.
The 60-year-old Watson celebrated his anniversary from successful left-hip surgery by shooting a 6-under-par 64 and building a four-stroke lead Saturday after three rounds at the Senior Players Championship.
Watson, bidding to become the oldest major winner on the 50-and-older Champions Tour, attacked the Baltimore Country Club course and put together a bogey-free round — he has made one bogey during the tournament — to finish 54 holes at 12-under 198.
Loren Roberts (65), John Cook (65) and Mark Wiebe (66) were tied for second.
Watson nearly won the British Open in July, but a balky putter on the 72nd hole cost him. He said he is more confident on the greens and, three months removed from his dramatic performance at Turnberry, happy about his play.
He is also healthier. Last season, Watson walked with a limp and had trouble sleeping because of pain in his hip. After the surgery, Watson said he immediately saw results.
"I heard a lot of good things about hip replacement, people getting great results and having more flexibility, more range of motion," he said. "I can get up on a horse, over a fence, all kinds of things now. It is something, to think you've got this metal, ceramic piece of merchandise in there."
Roberts' victories this season include the Boeing Classic at the TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge in August.
"We're going to have to really go hard the first six holes tomorrow. It's going to be the pedal to the metal on that one," Roberts said. "Tom will be really hard to catch."
Other tournaments
• Defending champion Lorena Ochoa of Mexico shot a 6-under 66 to take a three-stroke lead in the Navistar LPGA Classic, leaving 14-year-old Alexis Thompson eight strokes behind after three rounds in Prattville, Ala.
Ochoa had a 16-under 200 total. The world's top-ranked player is winless in her last 11 starts.
Thompson, a Florida ninth-grader who was among five players tied for the lead after 36 holes, shot a 74 and is tied for 13th place at 8 under.
Sandra Gal (66) was second at 13 under. Paige Mackenzie (70), a former Washington Huskies player from Yakima, was tied for 23rd place at 6 under.
• Scott Piercy shot a 6-under 66 for a share of the lead with Matt Kuchar (67) after the third round of the Turning Stone Resort Championship, a PGA Tour event in Verona, N.Y.
Piercy and Kuchar were at 14-under 202.
Rod Pampling (65) and Leif Olson (68) were a shot behind the leaders.
• Gale-force wind forced the postponement of the third round of the Dunhill Links Championship without a shot being played in St. Andrews, Scotland.