WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS - He's chasing history in Sam Snead's backyard, but Davis Love III isn't thinking about possibly being the oldest man to win a PGA Tour event.
Love is 10 under par at the Greenbrier Classic, tied for fifth and four strokes behind leader Sebastian Munoz. If Love can rally in the final round Sunday, he will become the first 53-year-old to win on the tour.
Sam Snead, the first pro emeritus at The Greenbrier resort, won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open at 52 years, 10 months and 8 days old. Love will be 53 years, 2 months and 26 days Sunday.
Love also would set the record for time from his first tour victory to his last, beating the 28 years, 11 months and 20 days set by Raymond Floyd (March 1963 to March 1992).
As it is, Love is the third-oldest to win an event, taking the 2015 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina at 51 years, 4 months and 10 days. That came 28 years, 4 months and 4 days from his first victory, in 1987.
"I don't think much about age," Love said. "I think I want to get out and compete. There's a reason why I keep having surgery and come back and doing rehab and trying to play."
He is in his 741st career start, well more than Snead's 585 starts. With 21 wins, Love won't come close to Snead's record 82. But the age record is within reach.
But he has to play more like he did in the first round, when he shot a 7-under 63, and less like he did the next two rounds, 69 and 68. He hit 14 of 18 greens Saturday, but three-putted two holes on the front and hit only two putts longer than 6 feet.
"I didn't make a whole lot of putts," Love said. "I didn't save myself with the putter, really. I made a nice putt on 2, a couple of short ones. Didn't get the hot putter; got the hot putter the first day, and make some putts [Sunday]."
J.B. Holmes started hot and stayed steady when the wind picked up and the course dried out.
His third-round 4-under 66 put him at 7 under for the tournament, and that round could have been even better had he been able to get more putts to drop and a few more approaches close. Holmes hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation, but couldn't capitalize much, especially on the par-5 12th and 17th holes, where he made par on both.
"Played great, really left a few out there," Holmes said. "I didn't make as many putts as I'd like, to, but I hit it great."
Holmes' last birdie came on the par-4 10th hole, which was listed at 385 yards on Saturday. Holmes uncorked a drive that skipped across the green and into the right rough while the grouping of Harold Varner III and Trey Mullinax was putting. He chipped out and holed a short putt and avoided some grief from the group ahead.
"I didn't think I could get it there," Holmes said. "I thought maybe I could just get it to the front, but they're both good guys. They won't give me too much crap."
Holmes' round put him seven shots behind leader Sebastian Munoz and he knows he has a steep climb ahead on Sunday. But it's not like Holmes hasn't done it before, as he fired a 10-under-par round of 60 in the third round of the first Greenbrier Classic in 2010.
"I have a chance [Sunday], but I think I'll have to shoot 6 or 7 [under] to have a chance," Holmes said. "I have shot 60 here before. That might do it."
On the other end of the age scale, two of the top four players are rookies - leader Sebastian Munoz and Xander Schauffele. Schauffele is three strokes back at 11 under after shooting a 66 Saturday.
Munoz is 24 and Schauffele is 23. Schauffele is having a better season with two top-10 finishes and five top-25s in 20 starts, and has made nearly $1 million.
If either wins, he would be the fourth rookie to win this season, following Wesley Bryan, Mackenzie Hughes and Cody Gribble. Hughes is in the field this week, tied for 32nd.
"Our class is just hungry," Schauffele said. "I just think the system the tour put out with the Web.com Tour and the PGA Tour has really shown the quality of players coming through, and the fact that we can kind of hang out here. It's good on the tour."
This tournament isn't just about rookies, but youth in general. Of the top 10 players after three rounds, eight are under 30 - Munoz, Schauffele, Jamie Lovemark (29), Kelly Kraft (29), Russell Henley (28), Nick Taylor (28), Tony Finau (27) and defending Greenbrier Classic champion Danny Lee (24).
A victory is what those on the leaderboard are chasing, but a top-four finish wouldn't be bad. Remember, four British Open spots are on the line.
After three rounds, the top four are Munoz, Robert Streb, Schauffele and Lovemark. Kraft and Love are one shot back. Of those within four shots of Munoz, only Russell Henley has already qualified for the Open, to be played in two weeks at Royal Birkdale.
n Phil Mickelson has an early tee time of 9:14 a.m. Sunday after shooting a 71. He is tied for 61st of the 74 players remaining. But he's beating Bubba Watson by a stroke after the part-time Greenbrier Sporting Club resident struggled with a 75. Watson is tied for 67th.
n Smylie Kaufman couldn't have been happy with 33 putts in his round of 75, but he didn't three-putt. That extends his streak to 258 holes without a three-putt, highest on the tour.
n Ollie Schneiderjans was disqualified after the second round Friday, though he would have missed the cut by a shot anyway. No reason was given.