AKRON, Ohio – Jerry Kelly closed two of the last four holes for another equal 70 on Firestone’s challenging South Course, leaving him with a one-shot lead on Saturday in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship.
“It’s another tough day. It’s another tough golf course,” Kelly said. “I was a little loose on the back side for the second day in a row and got out of position and did some bogeys.”
The only player at par or better after two days in the first major of the PGA Tour Champions season, Kelly – a 2 under – had a company in the red for the final round.
Woody Austin and Scott Parel shot 67 each, and Colin Montgomerie had a 68 to get to 1 on the test course which was the long-standing site of a PGA Tour event and later a World Championship golf tournament.
Kelly played the top nine in 2 under with three birdies and a bugbear to reach 4 under. He neutralized a bugbear on par-4 11th with a birdie on par-4 13th, then dropped two more bogey shots on par-3 15th and par-4 17th.
“I could have done two or three more birds,” Kelly said. “I was burning some edges. You’ll make mistakes here, I know. I just need to birdie to counter those mistakes and limit mistakes. So, even par isn’t a bad day. But I didn’t.” I like to give them away. “
Parel bounced off a bogey on the 17th with a birdie on the 18th.
“Luckily for us, we got a little help from the tee, it makes that hole a little bit shorter,” Parel said. “Yesterday I hit a big puck and I hit a short shot, so I thought if I hit a good one, I’d have a wedge in my hand. And I did. I hit a good shot and hit a good putt.”
Austin had four birds and a bugbear.
“Really played well today,” Austin said. “It reminded me of a guy in his 30s who used to hit pretty well. I was struggling the first couple of days of riding off the tee and today I rode it really well. And all my good irons kept working and the I hit very close. This is probably the worst score I could have gotten. “
Miguel Angel Jimenez was fifth at 1 after a 69.
Ernie Els (68), Kenny Perry (68) and Scott Dunlap (69) were 2 years old. Fred Couples followed a second round 75 with a 68 to get to 3.
Bernhard Langer (71) and Steve Stricker (73) were in 4.
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