Steve Flesch has been approaching golf more relaxed recently, and it’s paying off this week at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic at The Country Club of Virginia.
“I’m not overthinking it at night,” Flesch noted after his first round Friday. “I’m just playing golf, having fun out here. That’s really all I’m doing.”
He entered Saturday’s round just one shot back of Steven Alker, and his day started slowly making the turn with a pedestrian 1-under 35. Back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 got him right back in the mix and another circle on 15 propelled him into the lead. The American would add another birdie on the par 5 last to get to 13 under.
Coming into the week, Flesch had eight finishes of T-13 or better in his last 10 starts on the Champions tour, including a solo third a few weeks ago at the Constellation Furyk and Friends.
“I’m not hitting shots I don’t feel comfortable hitting. I’m just kind of, I hate the term ‘playing within myself,’ but I’m just hitting shots I know I can pull off and I’m not taking unnecessary chances,” Flesch mentioned after his Saturday 67. “It’s kind of how I’m playing. And the putter’s hot, so I just want to get the ball on the green and give myself a chance to run it in.
“That’s kind of the game plan and that will be the plan tomorrow. It’s working, so I’m going to stick with it.
He’ll enter the final round with a two-shot lead.
Bernhard Langer entered the second round three shots back of the lead and closed the gap quickly playing his first six holes Saturday 4 under. He would cool down, however, closing out the rest of his round with two birdies and a bogey for a Saturday 5 under 67.
“Not pleased with my par-par-par finish, two par 5s,” Langer said after his round. “Wish I had made one birdie at least, but just lack of length off the tee put me in a position where it wasn’t easy but still could have made one birdie somewhere and I didn’t.”
“I’m going to go as low as I can because I’m going to have to. There’s a lot of guys right there and thereabouts and that’s all we can do.”
Langer currently leads the Charles Schwab Cup points list and is well within striking distance going into Sunday’s final round tied for second, sitting two shots back.
Alker, the 18-hole leader, cooled off a bit today pairing four birdies with two bogeys for a Saturday 2-under 70.
“I didn’t quite obviously putt as well. Sixty-three, you’ve got to putt well, so it wasn’t quite there, but I didn’t give myself as many chances,” Alker said following his second round. “Wedges weren’t as close. Kind of struggled on the back nine a little bit, I missed some approaches, just didn’t have the yardage, so that kind of held me back.”
He’ll have to turn it back on Sunday to catch Flesch as he sits two shots back with Langer.
Notable names in the field: Jim Furyk (T-8, 7 under), Ernie Els (T-36, 2 under), Phil Mickelson (T-49, 1 over), Vijay Singh (T-52, 2 over), Davis Love III (WD), and John Daly (WD).
Shot of the day
HOLE OUT!
What a shot from Jeff Sluman @deccgolf.
pic.twitter.com/Fn8VaGvxaI
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 23, 2021