HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — Defending champion Scott McCarron and Bart Bryant shot matching 65s on Saturday to move into a share of the lead with Jeff Maggert at the Constellation Senior Players Championship.

McCarron birdied two of the final four holes at Exmoor Country Club for a three-round total of 16-under 200 in the fourth of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions schedule. Last year, he rallied to win the event at Caves Valley near Baltimore.

Maggert, who led most of the day, shot 66.

Vijay Singh (66) was one shot back. Three-time champion Bernhard Langer (67) and Illinois golf coach Mike Small (66) were another stroke behind, and Scott Parel (70) was in a group at 13 under.

Rod Spittle of Niagara Falls, Ont., and Calgary's Stephen Ames are tied for 40th at 4 under.

McCarron came into the week with seven top-10 finishes this year and a win at the American Family Insurance Championship last month. Now, he's in position to repeat at a major.

"The only way to repeat is you've got to put yourself in position going into the final round, which I've done," he said. "(Sunday) will be very exciting. We've got a stacked leaderboard, and someone is going to have to go pretty low tomorrow to win this tournament."

McCarron had eight birdies and a bogey on a rainy afternoon. He opened with a birdie on the par-5 first hole and came on strong on the back nine.

He made three straight birdies, starting with the par-4 10th, and added two more on the par-5 15th and par-4 17th. He also limited his mistakes.

"I hit the ball very well," he said. "I hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens. I went after the hole locations that were on the right side for me where I can hit my cut, and the hole locations on the left side I played a little safe. I did a very good job of managing my game today."

Maggert came in anticipating a "birdie-fest" because of the soggy conditions and got off to a blistering start.

He opened with an eagle after his approach rolled to about 3 feet. With birdies on the par-4 second and fourth holes, he looked like he might build a big lead.

But he made just three birdies the rest of the way before a bogey at 16 dropped him into a tie for the lead.

Bryant played bogey-free and birdied the 18th to match McCarron and Maggert.