RALEIGH -- John Riegger can come across as a gruff type, as a man of few words who might be happier in the privacy of a duck blind than playing professional golf.
At 46, Riegger says he's just biding time on the Nationwide Tour before he turns 50 and qualifies to play on the Champions Tour. But he has been doing more than biding his time this week in the Rex Hospital Open at TPC Wakefield
On Thursday, the talk of the tournament was a 62 by Scott Brown. On Day 2, all eyes were on 16-year-old Grayson Murray of Raleigh, who shot a 66 on Friday and became the second-youngest player to make the cut in a Nationwide Tour event.
All the while, Riegger was quietly going his own way, hitting good shots, making birdies.
He deemed his opening-round 66 "pretty boring" and also didn't seem overjoyed with a second-round 64, saying it could have been three or four shots better.
But Saturday, on a day when Murray struggled to a 1-over-par 72, Riegger really soared. Eight under after 13 holes, he had thoughts of a 59 dancing through his head before settling for an 8-under 63 that gave him a five-shot lead over Chris Nallen.
"The last two days I'm thinking 59, then I par in," Riegger said, smiling. "Five pars in a row ... I felt like I was shooting a million."
Riegger's 20-under 193 total is a 54-hole tournament record, breaking the 197 by Jimmy Green in 1998 at Raleigh Country Club. It was the low first 54 holes on the tour this year and the fifth-lowest opening 54-hole total in tour history.
The last to post 193? Nallen in winning the 2004 Gila River Golf Classic outside Phoenix. The former Arizona golfer qualified on Monday, shot 60 in the opening round and won by eight in his first Nationwide event.
Six years later, that's still Nallen's only victory. And he joked Saturday that it might take another 60 to catch Riegger, whose only Nationwide victory came in the 2007 LaSalle Bank Open.
"He could have putted into a thimble today," said Nallen, who played with Riegger and had a 66 to close at 198. "He got on fire.
"It's going to be tough to catch him if he plays like that. You may need to birdie every hole."
Murray, a sophomore at Leesville Road High, had just one birdie Saturday - on his last hole of the day - after notching six birdies and an eagle in his 66. He's tied for 55th place at 2-under 211.
"I didn't get anything going," Murray said.
Riegger, an Illinois native who lives in Las Vegas, loves hunting and fishing and says he plays golf to give him more time to duck hunt.
He has bounced back and forth between the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour since 1987 and has had his share of injuries, undergoing surgery in December to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff.
Riegger's best finish this year has been a tie for sixth in the Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open in early March. In his last two Nationwide events before the Rex, he withdrew in the first and missed the cut in the second.
But the Rex is his tournament to win or lose now.
"My mentality this week is to go out and make as many birdies as I can," Riegger said. "Fortunately I've been doing it. I'll take the same approach [today].
"If I go out and shoot 3 or 4 under, it's going to be hard to catch me."
Tour now saying round officially called at 3 p.m. Sunday.
It was the first time since the 2005 Oregon Classic that a Nationwide Tour tournament was called after 54 holes because of bad weather.
