Going into the day the field was pretty much wide open, and anyone inside the top ten had an opportunity to be in a place to contend for the U.S. Senior open title. After Kirk Triplett and Kenny Perry left the 18 green following their exciting round three, that was no longer the case.
Triplett and Perry pulled away from the pack early and never looked back. The two will be paired together again tomorrow, and barring a miracle from someone else at the top of the leaderboard they seem to be the only golfers that will be contending tomorrow afternoon.
Kirk and Kenny played most of the way neck and neck, but Triplett seemed to get a slight edge on the sixth hole, when he holed out of a bunker for an eagle. Triplett’s ability to chip onto the green and close to the pin gave him a slight advantage over Perry for most of the afternoon. Perry put the pressure on Kirk by out driving him by 20 plus yards almost every time, but Kirk would strike back with his excellent short game.
Perry has been consistent with his driver and irons for three rounds now, but today he did struggle a bit with his putter. His inconsistency on the green didn’t cause him to fall behind, but it did put him in some difficult situations. Almost miraculously, he was able to get out of many of them by saving par. On the 16th, Perry and Triplett both landed shots within a foot of the cup, but Perry’s shot rolled back about 15-20 ft. Perry proceeded to drain the long distance putt, this time putting the pressure on Triplett who would miss his birdie attempt from only a foot or two away.
Perry’s inconsistent short game would come back to bite only two holes later. His third shot on the 18th looked like it would just be a routine chip shot, but the ball missed the hole by a mile and rolled off the opposite side of the green. Perry would then two putt, resulting in a bogey and drop him one stroke behind Triplett to end the day.
It looks like it’s going to be a match play on Sunday between these two. With Perry only one stroke back, the next closest to the lead is Brandt Jobe, at -9. Jobe posted an -8 (62) today to try and narrow the gap between the leaders. That score tied for the lowest in U.S. Senior Open history, a record Triplett tied on Thursday. Unless Jobe or someone else can pull off another record performance tomorrow, nobody else’s chances don’t look good.
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