Els and Chalmers lead Bland and DiMarco by a stroke heading into final round of Senior PGA
Round 3 leaderboard: Senior PGA championship at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — South Africa’s Ernie Els is still hunting for his first senior major golf championship after winning two U.S. Opens and two Open Championships during a World Hall of Fame golf career.
Australia’s Greg Chalmers and England’s Richard Bland are just trying to find success as senior golfers, period.
Sunday morning at 9:38, the three golfers will make up the final pairing of the final 84th KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship to be played at Jack Nicklaus’ par-71, 6,706-yard Golf Club of Harbor Shores, all of them seeking a career-defining senior victory.
Day 2: Bland leads Dunlap by one at Senior PGA with Els and Stricker both lurking
Day 1: On day to go low, Green and Bland shoot 7-under 64s to lead Senior PGA at Harbor Shores
But if Mother Nature cooperates, they are certain to have plenty of competition for the year’s second senior major victory.
On a sunny, cool and blustery Saturday just off the shores of Lake Michigan, the 51-year-old Bland, the LIV Tour member playing on a special exemption from the PGA of America who had shared or owned the lead after the first two rounds, gave it up to the 50-year-old Chalmers, a left-hander, and the popular 54-year-old Els, a 6-foot-3 golfer known around the world as “The Big Easy.”
Bland fell out of the lead after he struggled to a three-over 74 for a three-round total of nine-under 204, one stroke behind Chalmers, who zoomed up 12 spots on the leaderboard with his five-under 66, and Els, who shot a two-under 69 to earn his share of the lead at 10-under 203.
“I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity,” said Chalmers, who turned 50 last October but doesn’t have full status on the PGA Champions Tour though he has played in four events and earned $169,888 thanks to a pair of Top 10 finishes. “I need this challenge. I’m looking forward to seeing how I do tomorrow and how I play … see if I can embrace it with both hands and play some good golf.”
Saturday, the 6-foot Chalmers, who hails from Sydney, Australia, but lives in Colleyville, Texas, showed plenty of moxie at Harbor Shores with seven birdies — five in a row beginning at hole No. 6 — and just two bogeys.
“Probably the highlight … was the seventh hole,” Chalmers said of his birdie 3 on the hole that overlooks Lake Michigan. “I hit a 5-iron from about 180 yards into the wind to about four feet. So that gives me a lot of confidence when I start to see that kind of ball control.”
Chalmers and the 84 others who made the cut at three-over may need that kind of confidence Sunday. Because of a stormy afternoon forecast, tee times were moved up to 7:15 in the morning off both the first and 10th tees with hopes of finishing play before 2 p.m. when the bad stuff was scheduled to arrive.
“I thought conditions were tougher today than yesterday (when play was halted by a Friday afternoon storm),” Els said Saturday after finishing his two-under-par round of 69 with a birdie at the 417-yard 18th hole where he hit a pitching-wedge approach from 136 yards to six feet. It was one of six birdies on the day for Els, who survived four bogeys.
“Yeah, I’m fortunate enough to be up there,” Els continued. “You’ve got to just grind. It’s that type of week. It’s a difficult course — it can be if you get out of position. You got to take your medicine. You’ve got to play conservatively here and there. I’m a shot-maker, so I feel it (the course) suits me. I can hit fades and draws into the greens. Then you’ve just got to make the putts.”
Bland, who for the three days has hit the ball mostly well from tee to green, made just two birdies but had five bogeys in his three-over 74.
“I just didn’t have it today,” Bland said. “I’ve been around enough to know that you’re going to have some poor days. Hopefully try and play better tomorrow.”
Bland finds himself tied at nine-under with 55-year-old Chris DiMarco, who has good vibes about playing in southwestern Michigan. Back in 1988 as a University of Florida golfer, DiMarco won the Western Amateur at nearby Point O’Woods.
Saturday, DiMarco, with wife Amy toting the bag, shot an even-par 71 that included two birdies and two bogeys. One of the latter came at the 552-yard, par-5 10th where DiMarco drove into the dense left rough, eventually reached the green with his fifth shot and then made a seven-footer to save bogey 6.
“I kind of stole a shot there, to tell you the truth,” DiMarco said. “Amy is the best caddie I’ve had because she’s so positive.” Her advice on 10? “Let’s get it in the fairway; stop hitting in the rough,” DiMarco cracked.
DiMarco will be paired with Australian left-hander Green, who shot a one-under 70 and was eight-under 205, a stroke ahead of PGA club professional Jason Caron from Mill River Club on Long Island, N.Y. Caron shot a four-under 67 Saturday in a round that included five birdies and an eagle 2 at the 422-yard seventh, holing out a 5-hybrid from 173 yards. That came a day after Caron double-bogeyed the hole.
Joining Caron at seven-under 206 were three other golfers — Australia’s Scott Hend (70); 51-year-old Stewart Cink (71) of Atlanta, winner of the 2009 Open Championship; and defending Senior PGA champion Steve Stricker of Madison, Wis., who is seeking an eighth senior major title.
Stricker, who shot 71, and his caddy/daughter Bobbi went right to the driving range to work out his struggles from a round which included an eagle, three birdies and five bogeys, including a bogey at the 426-yard 16th which he has played in four-over for three days.
The best round of the day belonged to 66-year-old Bernhard Langer of Germany, who is using a golf cart after undergoing surgery for a torn Achilles tendon suffered playing pickleball 3½ months ago. Langer didn’t know until Saturday morning that he made the three-over cut until fellow players Fred Funk and Marco Dawson got word for him. Langer came out to shoot the day’s best round of six-under 65, moving up from T70 to T20 and was at three-under 210.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Champions Tour KitchenAid Senior PGA championship round 3 Harbor Shores
