COLORADO SPRINGS — Maybe it was the occasional banter with his caddie about Nebraska vs. Colorado football battles that kept Jeff Klein loose enough Saturday to challenge a U.S. Senior Open record.
A qualifier from Scottsbluff, Neb., and former college golfer for the Cornhuskers, Klein shot a 6-under-par 64 — tying for the fourth-lowest score in U.S. Senior Open history and matched earlier in the day by Scott Simpson.
Klein, who began the day at 6-over, had a chance to tie the tournament record of 62 set by Loren Roberts in the 2006 U.S. Senior Open. But he bogeyed Nos. 15 and 18 after missing the fairway with his tee shots.
On Klein’s bag for the tournament is CU student James Nagl, a Colorado Springs resident who has had the audacity — at least from Klein’s red-colored point of view — to wear a “Buffs” cap. Lacking a personal caddie, Klein asked The Broadmoor to assign him one.
“I didn’t like (the Buffs cap) much. I fired him seven or eight times the last few days, but he didn’t leave,” Klein said.
“He knows who the better football team is,” Nagl told reporters with a grin.
Klein turned 50 on May 31 and earned a spot in the U.S. Senior Open by shooting a 75 in the qualifying round at Colorado Golf Club in Parker. A veteran of the Colorado Open, he earned a PGA Tour card in 2003 but failed to retain it the following year.
He needed only 25 putts Saturday, scrambling around the golf course after hitting just seven of 14 fairways and missing six greens. Klein tied a U.S. Senior Open nine-hole record with a 30 on the front, later matched by John Cook’s 30 on the back nine. Klein’s day included a 9-iron from 150 yards to within 18 inches of the cup on No. 6 and another 9-iron to within 3 feet at No. 14.
Coming in droves.
Attendance for Saturday’s third round was 26,694, putting the total gate since Monday at 88,663.
“People in Colorado know the value of championship golf,” championship director Doug Habgood said. “It’s been amazing to see this all come together.”
Rolling hills.
Plenty has been said about The Broadmoor’s greens, but Fred Funk calls them the hardest ever — yes, ever.
“This is the hardest set of greens I’ve ever played,” he said Saturday. “And that’s throwing Augusta in and Oakmont and Winged Foot, Pinehurst.”
Big hit.
Cook had a double bogey on No. 6 and was “running a little hot,” but his drive on No. 7 got him back on course, so to speak.
“That drive at No. 7, I hit a nice drive down the middle of the fairway and I said, ‘OK, now let’s get back in the game here.’ ”
Footnotes.
Today’s winner will take home $470,000 of the $2.6 million purse. . . . Five players have not had a three-putt through three rounds: Cook, Funk, David Edwards, Keith Fergus and Mark McNulty. . . . Since 1990, the third- round leader has won eight times; the last was Bruce Lietzke (2003).
Tom Kensler and David Krause, The Denver Post
