It wasn’t quite Babe Ruth’s “called shot” from the 1932 World Series, but it was nevertheless an impressive example of an athlete noting what needed to be done, then going out and flat doing it.
After Friday’s second round of the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor, Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe was eight strokes out of the lead, but said, “You shoot a 66 or 65, you’re back in the tournament.”
Twenty-four hours later, Jobe walked off the East Course in his old home state with a nifty 4-under-par 66 — which matched the best round Saturday — that vaulted him into fifth place and just three strokes out of the lead going into Sunday’s final round.
Reminded Saturday of his words from a day earlier, Jobe chucked and said, “I delivered.”
It’s the second straight year that Jobe has gone low in the third round of the U.S. Senior Open to land a spot on the leaderboard. A year ago in Peabody, Mass., Jobe tied the U.S. Senior Open single-round scoring record by shooting an 8-under-par 62 in round 3. That one put him within six strokes of the lead.
“Saturdays have been good,” he noted this time around. “These last two Saturdays (at the Senior Open), if I could make the Saturdays the rest of the week, I’d be in a little better shape.”
At The Broadmoor, Saturday’s 66 and 1-under-par 209 total left Jobe with half the 54-hole deficit he faced last year as Jerry Kelly leads at 206, 2001 PGA Champion David Toms is in second place at 207 and 2017 Senior Open runner-up Kirk Triplett and Tim Petrovic share third at 208.
“I’ve got to go out there and probably shoot another 66” on Sunday to have a realistic chance to win, Jobe said. “I’ve got a lot of good players ahead of me obviously.”
Many local fans will be rooting for Jobe, who lived in Colorado from 1970 to ’99. During that time, he won a Colorado Open, three CGA Match Plays, one CGA Amateur, one CGA Junior Amateur and one CGA Junior Match Play. (Coincidentally, his first two CGA Match Play wins came at The Broadmoor, on the South Course.) The Kent Denver graduate also finished second in The International at Castle Pines in 2005 after having a healthy lead going into the final day. His mom, dad, brother, sister and brother-in-law still live in Colorado.
Jobe never won on the PGA Tour — he finished runner-up four times. And so far in his PGA Tour Champions career, the 52-year-old Jobe has won once — last year’s Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa.
But Jobe is leading the PGA Tour Champions in driving distance this year, and often seems to do well in senior majors.
He’s posted six top-10 finishes in those events, which is notable considering he didn’t play in his first one until 2016. He’s been second and fourth in the Senior Players, third in that 2017 U.S. Senior Open where he shot the third-round 62, third and eighth in the Senior PGA, and fifth in the Senior British Open.
“My length, it’s huge out here,” he said. “Even (playing partner Bob Estes) is fairly long for out here and I was hitting it 30 (yards) by him. And the harder the course, the fewer people that can hang in there. The difficulty and the length helps me.”
So does playing four rounds in senior majors vs. three in regular PGA Tour Champions events.
“Four rounds always helps, no doubt about it,” he said. “Putting four rounds together vs. three, the guy that’s playing the best is going to continue to rise. It’s not as much of a sprint when you play four rounds. In three-round (events), if you don’t get it going (early) you kill yourself. I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve learned a lot out here.”
On Saturday, Jobe switched putters to a virtually identical model with perhaps a little less loft, which seemed to turn things around after what he called “horrible” putting days Thursday and Friday. He birdied three of his first six holes, making a couple of 15-footers and saving a par from 5 feet on 4, and finished with five birdies and one bogey on the day.
“I’ve had the (old) putter for a year and there’s something wrong with it,” he said. “It got bent in the hosel. They fixed it, but now it looks like it’s doing it again, so I said, ‘I’m not going to putt with it anymore.'”
Jobe now lives in Texas and will soon be moving to Oklahoma City. But the Kent Denver graduate explained on Saturday why he left Colorado 19 years ago after living in the state for nearly three decades, mostly recently in Castle Rock.
“I finally kind of realized it’s tough,” he said. “Even coming back here I laugh because the ball does so many different things than it does (at sea level). It’s just different golf here.
“It’s hard to do this kind of altitude and the way the ball goes when every week (on tour) we’re at sea level. That’s kind of why I made the change. And also just to get somewhere where the winters weren’t so difficult.”
For scores from the U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.
For Sunday’s pairings at The Broadmoor, CLICK HERE.
