NELSON TIES COURSE RECORD HIS 64 PUTS HIM IN SBC LEAD WITH COLBERT, WHO EAGLES 17.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The SBC Senior Classic is not just getting the best of Valencia Country Club. It's getting the senior back in senior golf.

For a second consecutive day, the leader of this Los Angeles-area Senior PGA Tour stop is a super-senior - this time 60-year-old Jim Colbert, who followed 67-year-old first-round co-leader Bob Charles.

Colbert included an eagle from the fairway at No. 17 in a 5-under-par round of 67 and came within a missed 4-foot birdie putt on the final hole of taking the undisputed tournament lead into today's closing round.

He wound up tied for first at 10-under 134 with the hottest player on the tour - 53-year-old player of the year Larry Nelson, whose 64 tied the course record.

They'll play in the final pairing today with Jim Ahern, who included two eagles in a 67 that left him tied at 135 with first-round co-leader Jose Maria Canizares (a second-round 70), both a shot ahead of Graham Marsh (67).

Others within four shots of the lead include Gary McCord, who improved eight shots with a 65 that threatened the course record, and Bob Eastwood, whose 71 left him tied with McCord at 138.

Seven others are a shot back at 139, including Lanny Wadkins, Don Bies and Australian Stewart Ginn, who all shot 69 in a second round that produced 14 rounds in the 60s.

Few finished as dramatically as Colbert. He couldn't match Nelson's consistency or the tournament-best nine birdies the seemingly ageless Charles recorded Friday, but he did manage the best shot of the week.

Colbert's eagle on the 449-yard 17th carried 180 yards into the wind, landing a foot behind the flagstick and bouncing back into the cup on the fly.

``I missed a lot of putts,'' he said,'' but when you hit a 180-yard shot into the wind and it goes in and you make a 2 on the hardest hole on the course, it makes up for a lot.''

Nelson didn't need to make up for anything, recording eight birdies in a bogey-free round that brought him from five strokes off the lead and extended a stretch of excellence that dates back to last August.

In that span, Nelson has won six of 13 events, finished second twice and been in the top 10 every time.

``Larry Nelson has played for six months like Tiger,'' Colbert said. ``He has the same look, the same concentration level, the same dedication. He's committed to being absolutely the best he can be, and that's the focus it takes.

``When I won a couple of money titles (as senior tour player of the year in 1995 and '96) that's the way I was, and that's the way Hale (Irwin) was (as player of the year in '97 and '98).''

Nelson, who said he had been playing sporadically despite his success, called his Saturday round one of his best.

``My chances of playing better are better.'' said Nelson, giving credit to his caddie and son, Drew, for pointing out some stance problems. ``When I came off the course (Friday), I thought I would struggle to get into the top 10. My 64 today was better than my 63 last week (in the second round of the Toshiba Classic).

Nelson, who also shot 63 in Thursday's pro-am, said players were continuing to benefit from damp conditions that kept Valencia's large and undulating greens receptive.

``I backed up a 4-iron (shot to a green) and I don't do that often,'' he said. ``On the ninth hole, I backed up a 7-wood.''

Ahern, who eagled the par-5 ninth and 15th holes, agreed the low scoring was helped by the condition of a course expected to play much tougher but softened by rain Monday, Tuesday and again Friday night.

Even though the seniors played the ball down Saturday, after lift-clean- and-place rules were in effect Friday, dampness helped keep tee shots from rolling through fairways into rough McCord labeled ``full of vitriol.''

And shots to the greens more often than not stayed on the greens.

``If the greens were firmer, nobody would be 10-under,'' said Ahern, who included four birdies with his two eagles and felt he could have scored even lower with marginally better putting.

``I had one of those rounds where I played pretty good, but I missed four 4-footers,'' he said. ``I'm gonna make 'em (today).''

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Photo: (color) First-round co-leader Bob Charles hits from the sand Saturday at Valencia Country Club. He shot a 74 to fall five shots back.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News