Starting off on No. 1 tee, the group had a steady front nine that included birdies on the third and fifth holes to go with seven pars. After rounding the turn Collins and Ujihara picked up the pace with an eagle on the par-5 10th hole. Birdies on 13, 15 and 16 brought their round to a close at six under. Their lone blemish on the card was a bogey on the par-4 14th.

Collins and Ujihara’s 129 total places a five-shot cushion between themselves and the field heading into the last round of play. Mark Miller and Casey Boyns stepped into a tie for second with Joe Beato and Gregory Saiki. Like the leaders Collins and Ujihara, Miller and Boyns also eagled the 10th, which happened to be their first hole of the day, en route to carding a 67-67–134. Beato and Saiki used six birdies in their round to post a 66-68–134 and share second. After suffering a bogey setback at the 16th, the pair recovered their stroke by capping off the day with a birdie on 18.

A tie for fourth has Tony McBroom and Terry Foreman along with Scott Anderson and Gary Vanier one stroke behind the medalists with a 135 total after two days of competition. McBroom and Foreman had an impressive four consecutive birdies in the round.

Only one bogey-free card was seen on Thursday, belonging to Rob Adolph and Doug Johnson. After their consistent performance, Adolph and Johnson stand in sixth with a 69-68–137. Low round of the day honors were claimed by Frank Pieper and Chip Campion’s 65. The duo started on No. 10 and rolled off a birdie-birdie-birdie tear before finishing with eight birdies and one bogey on their card, good for a tie for 10th.

The cut, which includes the top 30 and ties, was set at one-over 145. Some teams biting their nails for the final cards to come in included the pair of Mike Flood and Stan Lefrak. After starting their round on the 10th tee, Flood and Lefrak finished strong with birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to squeak in with a 74-70–144.

Others that were not so lucky included Ben Whipple and Sherman Haggerty and Tom Lyons and Marshall Raymer. Coming in one stroke away from qualifying for the final round, each team bogeyed their closing hole of competition to miss the mark. Also of note, three-time champions Bob Berg and Rob Thompson (2005, 2007, 2008) fell just shy of the cut with a 70-76–146.

Collins and Ujihara are on pace to set a record score since the championship was expanded to three days in 2006. The previous high-water mark of 67-63-66–196 was set by Mark Miller and Herb Jensen. The remaining 30 teams will be re-paired by score and the final round begins Friday at 7:30 a.m.

View results for NCGA Senior Four-Ball