Nick Price makes a major move to lead Senior Players Championship

TIMONIUM, Md. — Nick Price is poised to end his drought on the Champions Tour in major fashion.

Winless in 30 tries on the 50-and-over circuit, Price shot a bogey-free 66 Saturday to take a one-shot lead over D.A. Weibring after three rounds of the Senior Players Championship.

Starting the day in a fifth-place tie, Price moved up the leaderboard with birdies on three of the first five holes. He peeled off 11 consecutive pars before sinking a 13-foot birdie putt on No. 17.

"That was really a big birdie for me," he said.

The 51-year-old Price barely missed a 23-foot birdie putt on 18, then tapped in to close at 8-under-par 202.

Price earned more than $20 million on the PGA Tour and won two Player of the Year awards, but he has yet to cash a winner's check on the Champions Tour. That could change today in the circuit's final major of the year.

"Not playing as much as I would like to play, or need to play, I just haven't had the consistency in my game," he said. "But it certainly has felt a lot better this week. I'm just going to go out and just try and put one foot in front of the next, try not to get too far ahead of myself and play each shot as it comes. That's what I always did when I was playing well. Maybe it will work."

Weibring made five birdies in shooting a 66. Jeff Sluman (64) and Gene Jones (69) were at 6 under; Eduardo Romero (67) was alone at 5 under; and Jay Haas (69) and Fred Funk (72) were among four players at 4 under.

The final threesome will be Price, Weibring and Sluman. Given the circumstances, Weibring expects Price to be at his best.

"Nick's a Hall of Fame player," Weibring said. "One of the more surprising things is that he hasn't won. He's a great player; I love to play with him, I love to watch him play. I do think he's hungry. A major championship gets his juices going. He'll be very, very tough."

Price said he will be taking nothing for granted.

"This is such a fickle game. You just never know what's coming around the corner," he said.

Notes

• South Korea's In-Kyung Kim remained in position for her first LPGA Tour victory, shooting a 3-under 69 in windy conditions to take a one-stroke lead over Angela Stanford in the Longs Drugs Challenge in Danville, Calif.

Kim, 20, had an 11-under 205 total for 54 holes at Blackhawk Country Club. Stanford, the Bell Micro LPGA Classic winner last month in Alabama, shot a 67, the best round of the day. She birdied her final three holes, chipping in on No. 16.

Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa of Mexico shot a 74 and was at 4 under. She opened with a double bogey after hitting her drive out of bounds.

Wendy Ward (71), who lives near Edwall, outside Spokane, is tied for 12th at 1 under.

• South African Rory Sabbatini birdied the final hole for a 7-under 63 and a one-stroke lead over Zach Johnson after three rounds of the Texas Open in San Antonio.

Sabbatini, a four-time PGA Tour winner who lives near Dallas, had an eagle and four birdies for a back-nine 29. He had a 14-under 196 total.

Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, shot a bogey-free 62.

• Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez shot a 9-under 62 in the Madrid Masters in Spain, leaving him a stroke behind South Africa's Charl Schwartzel.

Schwartzel birdied the 18th hole for a 66 and a 14-under 199 total.