German Bernhard Langer surged into the lead at the US Senior Open by shooting six-under 64 to move to 10-under for the tournament.
Bernhard Langer: Back to his best
While the two-time major champion insists that anything could still happen in the final round, it seems unlikely that anyone will shoot a final round low enough to catch the 54-year-old.
Fred Couples suggested that someone would have to shoot a 60 to be able to catch him, but even that seems unlikely.
"That's not a huge lead," Langer insisted.
"That can disappear in no time. I'm going to have to get out there and shoot under par. That's my goal.
"If I go 2 under or 3 under, it will be very difficult for anyone to catch me. And if they do, they deserve to win."
Langer opened his round with three straight birdies, and went on to score five more in the next nine holes on a course unforgiving when you miss the fairways.
"He didn't win two Masters by luck," Corey Pavin, who was in a five-way tie for second place, commented after the round.
"He's an exceptionally good player, very methodical."
Langer missed his first green on the 13th where he fired a double-bogey, which cut his lead to three shots. Another birdie on the 15th extended it once again, before giving the stroke back on the final hole.
Pavin, Tom Pernice Jr, Tom Lehman, Roger Chapman, and John Huston and were at 6-under 204.
Couples moved up the leaderboard with a 65 after starting the day tied for 25th place, and was part of a pack that was five shots back in a tie for seventh at the end of the third round.
First-round leader Tom Kite and second-round leader Lance Ten Broeck were struggling in the final group after falling off the pace on Saturday.
Kite finished with a 74 to drop into a tie for 17th six shots back, while Broeck shot a 72 with three birdies and five bogeys to be alone in 11th place, six shots back.
At the top of the leaderboard, Langer once again looks like the player who dominated the seniors' tour from 2008-2010 before slipping to 25 last year.
"Without being big headed, I think I'm one of the better players out here the last three or four years," he said.
"I've won the Schwab Cup. If you do that, you've got to play well. If you can win normal tournaments and be in the top five or top 10 on a regular basis, you ought to be doing fairly well in the majors too because the majors are even harder.
"The better players, I think, will separate themselves even more from the average player in the majors because conditions are usually tougher," he concluded.
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