AKRON, Ohio — Steve Stricker is either going to join Arnold Palmer and Bernhard Langer as a wire-to-wire winner or author a collapse of unimaginable proportions during Sunday’s final round of the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club.
He showed signs of both on a sunny and windy Saturday.
Stricker continued his assault on the famed South Course during the early going on Saturday but showed signs of loose wheels in the later going and teetered on the brink of a stunning collapse.
A third-round 72 left Stricker still on top of the leaderboard at 7-under 203, but reigning champion Jerry Kelly crawled up Stricker’s back and is just four shots behind.
Only a birdie on the 625-yard 16th stopped the hemorrhaging and might have saved the day – and the tournament — for Stricker.
“It was a tough stretch of holes in there from 12, 13, 14, 15,” Stricker said. “I had a five-shot lead starting the day, I’ve got four now, so all in all I didn’t give away too many. But had an opportunity to kind of distance myself; that was the plan today. Go out, get going, be aggressive and make some birdies and get out ahead. But kind of got sidetracked there in the middle.”
He was able to right the ship with the birdie on 16.
“Yeah, I think so. It was a good drive, a good 4-iron that I hit there and a nice, chip, good putt. I played the hole well, played the next hole well, just got a gust of wind at 17, and played 18 well. I’m fine, I just I wish I didn’t have the little hiccups there in the middle.”
Stricker, 54, opened the third round with a 5-shot lead and birdied the first three holes to eventually make the turn at 2-under 33.
But he made three bogeys and one double-bogey on the back and tumbled back to the pack.
What had been a seemingly insurmountable 9-shot lead dwindled to four by day’s end as Kelly showed some heart with a third-round 2-under 68 to end 54 holes at 3-under 207.
Palmer led from start to finish in winning the 1985 Senior Players at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, and Langer, who has won 41 events on the Tour Champions list, followed suit in winning in 2015 at the Belmont Club outside Boston.
Stricker, 54, suffered his first two bogeys of the tournament on the fourth and 10th holes and stumbled to a double-bogey on the par-3 12th, but his three consecutive opening birdies extended his lead to a whopping nine strokes, seemingly leaving the field in his wake.
Contenders Paul Broadhurst, Ken Duke and Marco Dawson – or anyone else, for that matter – were not able to mount any challenge to the U.S. Ryder Cup captain.
Broadhurst, a two-time Senior major winner who started the day in second place, five shots behind Stricker, bogeyed two holes on the front and fell into a tie for eighth with Dawson at 2 over, nine shots off the lead.
Dawson also bogeyed two holes to start and added another on the 12th.
Duke was the lone contender able to maintain an even level and eventually pulled into sole possession of third place, five shots behind. He made the turn at even-par and added a birdie on the 12th by making a putt from just off the back edge of the green.
Jim Furyk, Ernie Els and David Toms are tied for fourth at even par, seven shots behind Stricker.
Kelly, who won here last with a final score of 3-under 277, began the day eight shots behind Stricker. He bogeyed the first but rebounded with two birdies and eventually to 3-under.
“I enjoy the chase,” Kelly said. “I’d rather be in the lead and stretch it, that’s everybody’s ideal. But, I don’t mind the chase.”
Now that he is in the hunt, Kelly showed some renewed vigor.
“It feels great,” he said in answering a question as to how it felt to be in the hunt. “I feel the swing is getting better and better each day. I still feel good putting and the short game. I mean, I’ve just got to go out and play. These conditions are tough. It’s going to be even tougher tomorrow. Yeah, it’s going to be a dogfight.”
from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3x4DB96