As the wind dropped at Trump International on Saturday so too did the scoring, with the 64 remaining players taking advantage of relatively benign conditions to move into contention at the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship. And after 54 holes it was Bo Van Pelt who seized the lead at -2 after a blemish-free 68 – the American taking a one-shot lead over South Africa’s Darren Fichardt who matched Van Pelt’s four-under round.
English pair Simon Khan and Andrew Marshall are two back at +1, although they enjoyed differing fortunes in round three. Khan hit a superb 69 while Marshall, who held the lead after 36 holes was just a shot back with two to play but bogeyed 17 and 18 on his way to a 75.
PGA Professional Damian Mooney, former champion Peter Baker and Dutchman Maarten Lafeber are all at +2, with Ryder Cup player Phillip Price and Legends Tour newcomer Anthony Wall one further back at +3.
MAIDEN WIN?
With 18 holes to go on Sunday, Van Pelt was delighted to be in with a chance of a maiden Legends Tour victory. “I’m really happy how I played,” he said afterwards. “Any time you can go bogey-free around this place, you’re going to be happy. There was less wind today, but it’s still a really tough track. Any big miss can mean a double or a triple and there’s very few spots where there’s a wide side, where you can take one side out of play. So driving the ball well is huge, and so far this week, I’ve been able to do that.”
And having first played links at the 2004 Open Championship at Royal Troon, Van Pelt has grown to relish the challenge of seaside golf. “It just challenges every part of your game. Luckily, I’ve been in Oklahoma over 30 years, so I’m pretty used to wind. I was telling my son, who’s never caddied before, ‘the number doesn’t really matter. It’s all about trajectory and hitting the ball solid’. And that’s probably the thing I’m most proud of this week, my distance control of my irons has been good so far, so I just need to do it again tomorrow.”
“I was super excited when I found out I had status on the Legends Tour and I look forward to playing as much as I can. I was out of golf almost four years, so when I got to 50, I wasn’t burnt out. I’m excited to play, and to get to play a beautiful venue like this, like, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.”
South African Fichardt is also enjoying a first season on the Legends Tour after turning 50 in May and finishing second in his first event at the OFX Irish Legends. “It was good today,” he said. “Thursday was horrendous and then yesterday we just knew what we were going to get so it was easier to prepare for. I played pretty well yesterday, I just unfortunately made a lot of mistakes – seven birdies for level par. So I knew I was playing well and obviously fighting well, so I just thought I’d just go to the same mindset and I did that today.”
Fichardt’s game is well primed after a three-week stretch ahead of the tournament that took in the Swiss Senior Open, the Open Championship at Royal Portrush and the ISPS Handa Senior Open at Sunningdale. “It’s definitely good preparation. This golf course, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for error. I’m really enjoying the test, just trying to keep the same plan, play percentage game and hopefully have a stress-free tomorrow.”
Double Masters champion José María Olazábal rolled back the years with another creditable level-par round to sit at +5 in a share for 15th place alongside first-round leader Michael Jonzon and Ryder Cup player Stephen Gallacher.
Englishman Greg Owen, meanwhile, carded the lowest round of the week – a bogey-free 66 – as he continues to recover from an opening day 82. Friday’s 75 was a seven-shot improvement, with Saturday’s 66 being a further nine shots better and good enough for 24th place.
“Most of us struggled the first couple of days apart from a couple of amazing scores,” said Owen afterwards. “It just felt like today you could actually play golf, because it’s been survival so far. I had nothing to lose today. You have to play well, it’s very competitive, but I feel like I’ve got the game to win out here. So when I get the opportunity, like today, I want to show what I can do. I’m still halfway in the field, so I’m fighting for points to keep me going up in the order of merit, so we keep going and see what it brings. There’s no point in trying to defend anything – I’ve got nothing to defend. I need to go and make another score in the 60s at least, to try and move up to the place I want to be.”
Shot of the day belonged to former Ryder Cup player Joakim Haeggman who made the best possible start to round three with a remarkable albatross two at the par-five first. After a big drive the Swede saw his 6-iron from around 180 yards disappear into the hole for that rarest of all birds – which helped to set up a round of 68 and a share of 29th.
Round four will start earlier given the inclement weather, check www.legendstour.com for timings and tickets.
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