Maggert starts fast at Senior Player Championship

It's difficult to imagine a better start to a round than the one Jeff Maggert had Saturday. He was really moving on moving day at the Constellation Senior Players Championship at Exmoor.

Maggert started with a hybrid second shot at No. 1 from 228 yards and rolled it to within three feet of the cup. That set up an eagle. Then he hit an 8-iron to three feet at No. 2, setting up a birdie, and he also made birdie at No. 4, making him 4-under-par through four holes.

"I knew it was going to be a shooting match, and just tried to make as many birdies as I could. It's going to be the same tomorrow," said Maggert.

Starting fast is not new for Maggert, who is 11-under-par on the front nine after three rounds - the best in the field - and 5-under on the back.

A good pairing?

Bernhard Langer will play with Mike Small for the second straight day in today's final round. They played together in the third round of the American Family Insurance Championship earlier this season.

"It doesn't matter where the grouping is. It's more how many you are behind," said Langer, who trails the leaders by two strokes. "I'm still there, but within shouting distance. Tomorrow should be an exciting day."

Langer was runner-up to Scott McCarron in this event last year after winning the title the three previous years.

Putting prowess:

Bart Bryant, who is tied for first, found a putter at Dick's Sporting Goods when PGA Tour Champions played in Wisconsin. It revived his season.

"I was very solid in Wisconsin the last round, and I didn't play in the U.S. Senior Open," said Bryant. "To have three rounds here of solid putting, that's more Bart Bryant-ish. I've really been in a putting slump for a while and it was tough to go through. The new putter seems to be helping."

A birdie machine:

Defending champion Scott McCarron leads the field with 20 birdies, eight coming in Saturday's third round 65. He's No. 8 on PGA Tour Champions in birdies-per-round (3.85).

McCarron is in the final group on Sunday for the 10th time in PGA Tour Champions events and he won on four of those occasions. Should he win here he'll be the third player to win consecutive titles in the tournament. The others were Arnold Palmer in 1985-85 and Langer, who won three in a row from 2014-16.

Bits and pieces:

John Daly withdrew before the third round, citing a sore knee. He had limped through Friday's second round.

Paul Broadhurst, who won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in Michigan, is tied for 36th and David Toms, who won the U.S. Senior Open, is tied for 40th.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, winner of the season's other major played so far - the Regions Tradition - is tied for 16th and is the only player with top-five finishes in each of the first three majors of the year.

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