Mark James has played for the European Ryder Cup team seven times, captained it once, and won 22 tournaments overseas.
Yet, winning a major on the Champions Tour — in his first year with the 50-and-over set — would mean a lot to him.
"It would be brilliant. I would be over the moon," he said.
The Englishman took the third-round lead in the Senior Players Championship on Saturday in Dearborn, Mich., shooting a 5-under 67 for a 14-under 202 total at the TPC of Michigan.
James was three strokes ahead of Gary McCord and Jose Maria Canizares, the largest third-round lead in the tournament since 1999 when Hale Irwin was ahead by four strokes and won by seven. McCord and Canizares, the second-round leaders, shot 71s.
James caught a break when playing partner Dana Quigley ruined a strong round with a quadruple bogey. They were tied at 14 under until Quigley fell apart at the par-5 17th.
"It was sickening to watch," James said.
After Quigley's drive left him 232 yards short of the hole, he went for the green, but fell just short and into the water. He dropped, then found water again before hitting over the green. Quigley then chipped well past the hole before two-putting for a 9.
"If I had that same shot again, I'd do the same thing," Quigley said. "I'm not going to second-guess myself. In my heart, that was the right shot. I'm sure that every golfer in America knows how I felt out there."
He bogeyed the last hole, falling to even-par 72 for the round, and 9 under for the tournament, tied for sixth.
Quigley, the "Iron Man" of the Champions Tour, has played in every one of the last 250 events he has been eligible for since 1997, and 235 consecutive overall.
"I don't think I'm in striking range," he said. "I probably blew the tournament right there, but I hear there is another one coming up."
Bruce Fleisher and Jim Ahern each shot 69s, and will start the final round four shots back.
James and Fleisher are the only two players who have shot in the 60s in all three rounds.
On Saturday, James had two birdies on the front nine and three on the back, with no bogeys.
The Englishman was a regular on Europe's Ryder Cup team from 1977-95, its captain in 1999 and an assistant captain two other times. James will not have any role in September when the Ryder Cup comes to Oakland Hills, in suburban Detroit, but said he doesn't have a problem with that.
"It's time for new people to get involved," he said.
James, who started the week 29th on the money list, had his best finish of the year last month when he tied for third in the Bayer Advantage Celebrity Pro-Am. He also tied for fourth in the Senior PGA Championship, the first major championship of the year.
Irwin, the career victory leader on the Champions Tour, shot a 66 — the best round of the day — to finish at 7 under.
Defending champion Craig Stadler had a 73 to drop to 6 under.
For the second year in a row, Gil Morgan led after the first round and struggled the next two.
Morgan's 65 on Thursday gave him a three-stroke lead, the largest opening-round advantage in the 22-year history of the tournament. He followed that with a 70 on Friday and a 75 in the third round. He will start the final round at 6 under.
With his CBS colleagues watching, McCord was glad he didn't embarrass himself while playing in the final group.
"I had not been there in a while, and had never been there when CBS was doing it," he said. "It was a day of a bunch of conundrums.
"My brain was exploding out there, but I didn't lose any ground, and I answered a lot of questions."
JOHN DEERE CLASSIC: At Silvis, Ill., Argentina's Jose Coceres put himself in good position to win his third PGA Tour title, shooting two 3-under 68s to take a two-stroke lead in the John Deere Classic. Coceres, whose only bogey in 25 holes Saturday came on his final hole, had a 15-under 198 total. Australia's Greg Chalmers was second after finishing off a third-round 69 with a birdie. Steve Stricker (64) was four strokes back along with 50-year-old Jay Haas (67), Robert Gamez (67), Joe Durant (67), Mark Hensby (69), Stuart Cink (67) and Vaughn Taylor (70). Defending champion Vijay Singh had a 67 to top a group at 10 under.
CANADIAN WOMEN'S OPEN: At Niagara, Ontario, U.S. Women's Open champion Meg Mallon shot a 7-under 65 to extend her lead to four strokes in the Canadian Women's Open. Mallon, 16 under for the tournament and 26 under in her last five rounds, is in position to become only the third player to follow a U.S. Women's Open win with a victory the next week.