At Senior PGA, Stephen Ames leads, but two Masters champs loom large – Detroit News
Benton Harbor — At any major golf championship — even one like this Senior PGA Championship, which on Saturday turned into a red-number paradise — a save can be just as important as a birdie, whether the save is for a par or, gasp, even a double-bogey.
Former Masters champions Bernhard Langer and Mike Weir had some wobbly moments down the stretch in the third round of the Champions Tour season’s second major, but they did just enough to keep them front and center for Sunday’s final round at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores.
Langer and Weir, paired together on a glorious, sunny, low-wind afternoon, both shot 4-under 67 and were two shots back of leader Stephen Ames after 54 holes.
Those three will be in the final group Sunday, starting at 12:50 p.m.
“It’s always fun being in contention and it’s always fun being in the last group, because you pretty much can see and know what you’ve got to do,” said Langer, who, at 64, continues to turn back Father Time.
“I’ve got to play flawless golf to hopefully pull off the ‘W’ tomorrow.”
Langer, more than anybody in the field — really, more than almost anyone in Champions Tour history — has been in this position before, so he’s unfazed, by the good and the bad. He’s already owns the record for most Champions Tour majors (11), and is second all-time in Champions Tour wins (43, to Hale Irwin’s 45). He’s the oldest Champions Tour winner (64, in February), and the oldest major winner (61).
SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD
So he knows as well as anybody the importance of the key save. He was cruising right along at 5 under on the day through the par-5 15th hole, which he reached in two and made birdie, before things went wayward at the tough, par-4 16th. He was in the right greenside rough in three shots, then chipped in for par. Langer then made an 8-footer for par at the par-3 17th.
The day ended on a sour note, when he hit his approach fat on the par-4 18th, and three-putted for bogey, just his third of the week. He’s had one each day.
“That bogey hurts a little bit. Not happy about that,” said Langer, who also was more than aware of the key par saves that preceded the bogey.
“They are huge,” Langer, who won this tournament in 2017, though not at Harbor Shores, said of the saves. “Sometimes bogey putt, whatever it is. If you can save a shot or two, that’s always big.”
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That’s always the case in the majors, and it was especially true Saturday, when scoring conditions were perfect, with almost no wind. Of the top 36 players on the leaderboard, 35 broke par Saturday.
Among those was Weir, who got the most unfortunate break on the par-3 17th, where he hooked his tee shot and figured it would wind up in the greenside bunker — not a terrible miss. But the ball flew just past the bunker and struck a rake, then ricocheted another 50 feet or so into the hazard to the left of the green.
The ball wasn’t in the water, and Weir attempted to play it, but left it in the brush. From there, he took an unplayable lie, flopped to 8 feet, and made the putt for, essentially, an excellent double-bogey.
“I’m proud of the 5 I made,” said Weir, 52, a Sarnia native who’s 42 wins behind Langer on this tour.
The double put him three shots back of Ames’ lead.
But Weir bounced back with birdie at 18, hitting his approach to 5 feet.
“A good self-talk,” Weir said when asked how you can put such a bad break behind you in the span of one hole. “I just told myself that I’m playing well. There’s still 19 holes left. Let’s start with a good tee shot here (the 18th). Let’s start there. Let’s put that behind us and let’s start with a good tee shot.”
From there, he had a perfect number, he said, 155 yards. He used an 8 iron and stuck it close.
It was the second time Weir rebounded in a big way Saturday. After he missed a short par putt at the short par-4 third hole, he made five birdies in a six-hole stretch from Nos. 5-10.
Weir will play in the final group with a fellow Canadian, Ames, who holds dual citizenship with Trinidad and Tobago. Ames also shot a 4-under 67 on Saturday, parring the final six holes. He made a great par save from the greenside hazard at the 14th, chipping out of the rough to a foot, but then he couldn’t make birdie at the par-5 15th. Still, all in all, a fine day, and a fine tournament, so far.
“It’s my show and my show to control,” said Ames, 58. “And that’s what I’m going to try to do tomorrow.”
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Ames had just one bogey on the card, at the par-4 seventh, which gave the field fits.
Steven Alker made double-bogey there, one of two doubles for him on the day. He also doubled the 14th. Bad tee shots led to both.
With six birdies, Alker shot a 2-under 69, falling off the pace to four shots back of the lead.
“They’re very tough holes,” said Alker, 50. “Really tough.”
Even on Saturday, 7 and 14 were brutal, when the conditions were quite easy. On Sunday, the forecast is calling for heavy winds, which could open up the championships to a whole bunch of players.
At 9 under, three back, was Paul Goydos after a 67; joining Alker at 8 under is defending champion (at Southern Hills) Alex Cejka, who shot a 68, and Brian Gay, who shot a 69. Gay got off to a hot start, holing a greenside bunker shot for eagle at the short par-4 third hole, but Gay, one of the longest hitters on the 50-and-older circuit, made par on all four par 5s, and he knows he’ll have to do better tomorrow.
In a group at 7 under, five back, are some big names, including Miguel Angel Jimenez, who shot 65, and Padraig Harrington, who won a PGA Championship at Oakland Hills in 2008 and shot 68.
And the group at 6 under includes Ernie Els (70) and Brandt Jobe (68), the father of Tigers top pitching prospect Jackson Jobe.
They’re all chasing Ames, of course, though it feels an awful lot like they’re chasing Langer — whose 43 Champions Tour wins are 12 more than all the other 16 players within six shots.
“I don’t know if that’s valuable or not,” Langer said. “I think all the guys out here obviously played golf for a very long time. If you are over 50, you’ve been playing this game a long time and they have all won championships. I don’t think there’s anybody on leaderboard that hasn’t won tournaments.
“I might have won a few more than most of the guys. Hopefully there will be another one tomorrow, we’ll see.”
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tpaul@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tonypaul1984