Isao Aoki shot a Senior PGA Tour record 60 in Saturday's second round of the Emerald Coast Classic in Milton, Fla., breaking the previous low of 61 shared by five others.
"I didn't start thinking about 59 until I made a birdie at 16," said Aoki, who parred the final two holes and was one stroke behind co-leaders Vicente Fernandez and Simon Hobday. "I was a little nervous at 17 and 18."Aoki made 10 birdies and missed the magic number of 59 when a birdie putt fell a foot short on No. 18.
The PGA record for a round is 59, set by Al Geiberger in 1977 and matched by Chip Beck in 1991.
Aoki's 10-under round left him at 9-under 131, tied for third with Hale Irwin and Dale Douglass going into Sunday's final round.
Bob Duval, Gil Morgan and Bob Eastwood were two strokes behind the leaders and Larry Nelson was alone at 133.
"This week I switched to a very old putter, almost 20 years old, because I didn't have a good feeling for my game," Aoki said. "If I knew about that I would have used the old one earlier."
Bud Allin was the last senior golfer to shoot a 61 at the FHP Health Care Classic in 1995. At that time he tied a mark held by Lee Elder, Rocky Thompson, Jim Colbert and Dale Douglass.
Fieldcrest Cannon Classic
At Cornelius, N.C., Wendy Ward is on the verge of making her first LPGA victory the most impressive scoring feat in the history of the tour.
Ward blistered the Peninsula Club course again Saturday, this time with an 8-under-par 64 that gave her a six-shot lead over Rosie Jones and Betsy King heading into the final round of the Fieldcrest Cannon Classic.
"I can't explain it. There's been nothing different from my routine," Ward said after her best round as a pro left her at 21-under 195 following three tours of the 6,318-yard course along Lake Norman in the north Charlotte suburbs.
To put Ward's total in perspective, consider that the best previous 54-hole score in LPGA history was a 19-under by Hall of Famer Pat Bradley in the 1991 Rail Charity Golf Classic. The best 72-hole score ever on tour is 20-under - first done by Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez in the 1985 Henredon Classic and then by Beth Daniel at the 1994 Oldsmobile Classic.
Bradley, Daniel and Lopez have a combined 112 victories on the tour. Ward, 24, has yet to finish higher than ninth in her two years as a pro after one of the most heralded amateur careers of the past decade.
B.C. Open
At Endicott, N.Y., Stewart Cink followed a second-round 64 with a 5-under-par 67 and held a one-shot lead over three players heading into the final round of the B.C. Open.