DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) – Mark James has played for the European Ryder Cup team seven times, captained it once, and won 22 tournaments overseas.

Yet, winning a major on the Champions Tour – in his first year with the 50-and-over set – would mean a lot to him.

“It would be brilliant. I would be over the moon,” he said.

The Englishman took the third-round lead in the Senior Players Championship on Saturday, shooting a 5-under 67 for a 14-under 202 total at the TPC of Michigan.

James was three strokes ahead of Gary McCord and Jose Maria Canizares, the largest third-round lead in the tournament since 1999 when Hale Irwin was ahead by four strokes and won by seven. McCord and Canizares, the second-round leaders, shot 71s.

James caught a break when playing partner Dana Quigley ruined a strong round with a quadruple bogey. They were tied at 14 under until Quigley fell apart at the par-5 17th.

“It was sickening to watch,” James said.

After Quigley’s drive left him 232 yards short of the hole, he went for the green, but fell just short and into the water. He dropped, then found water again before hitting over the green. Quigley then chipped well past the hole before two-putting for a 9.

“If I had that same shot again, I’d do the same thing,” Quigley said. “I’m not going to second-guess myself. In my heart, that was the right shot. I’m sure that every golfer in America knows how I felt out there.”

He bogeyed the last hole, falling to even-par 72 for the round, and 9 under for the tournament, tied for sixth.

Quigley, the “Iron Man” of the Champions Tour, has played in every one of the last 250 events he has been eligible for since 1997, and 235 consecutive overall.

Defending champion Craig Stadler had a 73 to drop to 6 under.

With his CBS colleagues watching, McCord was glad he didn’t embarrass himself while playing in the final group.

“I had not been there in a while, and had never been there when CBS was doing it,” he said. “It was a day of a bunch of conundrums.

“My brain was exploding out there, but I didn’t lose any ground, and I answered a lot of questions.”

Coceres tops John Deere Classic

SILVIS, Ill. – Jose Coceres birdied the 17th hole for a 3-under 68 Saturday and one-stroke after two rounds of the rain-delayed John Deere Classic.

Coceres moved to 12-under 130, one shot ahead of Greg Chalmers (67), heading into the third round later Saturday.

About half the field was forced to complete the second round Saturday, one day after play was delayed for three hours because of rain and later suspended because of lightning.

Vaughn Taylor (69) was two shots back at 10-under 132, and Mark Hensby shot a second-round 65 to move into fourth at 9 under.

Ten players were tied for fifth at 7 under.

Derailed by a broken arm and bad play since winning twice in 2001, Coceres has held the lead after both rounds at the TPC at Deere Run. It’s the first time he has had the lead this late in a tournament since winning the National Car Rental Classic in 2001. He also won the Worldcom Classic that year.

“The most important thing right now is that in my mind, I’m doing very well,” the 40-year-old Argentine player said through a translator. “I really want to have a good tournament. I’m ready to have a good tournament.”

Coceres was 2 under through 11 holes in the second round and 11 under overall when play was suspended.

Vijay Singh, last year’s champion, shot a 67 to reach 6 under.

Mallon beginning to break away

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario – Beth Daniel figures there’s only one way to stop Meg Mallon’s remarkable run and prevent her from winning the Canadian Women’s Open.

“I’m having dinner with Meg tonight so maybe I can poison her food,” Daniel said with a big laugh Saturday.

Nobody else has slowed Mallon. Not Annika Sorenstam, the LPGA’s top golfer, who finished second to Mallon at last weekend’s U.S. Women’s Open. And not this week’s field at the $1.3 million Canadian Open being held at the Legends on the Niagara Battlefield course.

Mallon shot a 7-under 65 in Saturday’s third round, moving to 16-under 200 for the tournament, four strokes ahead of Daniel, the defending champion who shot a 67 in the third round.

“I had better watch what I eat,” Mallon said, with a grin, when informed of Daniel’s plan.

Mallon has been so good – she’s 26 under in her last five rounds of competition – that she’s put herself in position to become only the third woman to follow a U.S. Open victory by winning an LPGA event the following week.

Se Ri Pak did it in 1998 by winning the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic, joining Jane Geddes, who accomplished the feat in 1986. Louise Suggs also won back-to-back events in 1952, but that’s when the All-America Women’s Open was held six weeks after the U.S. Open.

Mallon has led since a first-round 65. If she shoots a 3-under in the final round she would break the tournament record of 18 under, set by Brandie Burton in Windsor, Ontario, in 1998.

Canadian Dawn Coe-Jones (69) and Lorena Ochoa (70) are six shots back in a tie for third.