ENDICOTT, N.Y. — Does the big man with the dreamy swing close the deal this time around at En-Joie Golf Course?
Ernie Els is positioned to do just that as a three-way shareholder of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open’s 36-hole lead.
Participants on Saturday dodged a second day of suspect weather forecasts, and once again Sunday starting-time concessions will be made in anticipation of further unpleasantness.
Els and fellow leaders Miguel Angel Jimenez and Brett Quigley, 12 under apiece, are to convene on the first tee at 10:20 a.m., just more than two hours after the earliest starters in a third day of double-tee getaways. That is several hours before the tournament’s original blueprint scripted.
Those concerns aside: How favorable were the conditions for Round 2, coupled with competitors’ skill level? The pace-setting trio combined to make 23 birdies and – get this – zero bogeys.
Els, 53, and winner of the most recent of his three PGA Tour Champions events in March:
- In 2021 was Dick’s Open leader by three through 36 holes and by two at the turn Sunday. He shot 72 to take second.
- Last summer, he was three back of leader Mike Weir through 36 holes and shot 73 Sunday to share 15th.
Saturday at En-Joie, he crammed four of his seven birdies into a four-hole segment concluding with the par-5 12th. The man with eight top-10s in 11 events this season and tour leader in par-3 scoring average has clearly got it together.
“I scrambled around a bit on the front nine, I didn’t quite have my swing going there, but up-and-downed the ball and made some birdies,” he said. “Then I found it, made some birdies early on the back nine, but then I kind of was around the hole.”
As for aspects of the game he’d choose to be spot-on Sunday?
“I’ll pick two, driving and putting, and always the putter,” he said. “I think you’re going to have to make some putts. I think the scores are going to be quite low. The course is in fabulous condition. Depends on the weather, but I think the guys are going to score low, so you’re going to have to have the putter working and you’ve got to put it in play to attack the flags.”
Similarly fabulous Saturday was Jimenez, who rounded out a back-side 31 with birdie at the last. At age 59, he is a 13-time PGA Tour Champions winner to go with 14 runner-up finishes (56 top 5s) and was a three-time winner in 2022.
His 64 matches his low round of the season and marks his third 8-under 64 in his last six rounds on PGA Tour Champions.
“I played very well, very solid both days,” he said. “(Friday) made a couple of bogeys there, but was very solid. Missed a lot of chances for birdie as well as today making 8 under par, no bogeys, very solid. I had so many chances for birdie all day and then I made the one on the 18th, what a finish.”
Addressing potential weather concerns in Round 3: “Just patience, that’s the main thing you have to have when you have a day that the condition, maybe thunderstorm, but you need to have patience. That’s the only thing you really do is play golf, what we are here for, no?
“At the moment we are lucky because (Saturday) was supposed to be rainy and what a beautiful day to play golf. We hope the thing is moving for (Sunday).
Quigley, 53, and a 10-time En-Joie visitor back in the B.C. Open days, placed 37th in his DSGO debut last year. He has four top-10s this season, sits fifth on tour in putting average and 20th on money list.
Saturday, he strung birdies on Nos. 15-18.
“I saw when I made the turn the scores were pretty low, then I saw Ernie made a couple more birdies and got it to 12,” he said. “I knew I needed to keep the pedal down and keep making birdies. Fortunately, I did, finished with four. It’s nice.
“The whole back nine I played well, I think I hit every green or had some good putts at it. If you get going out here you feel like you can make a bunch, and it’s sometimes not easy not to press, so I tried to just stay patient. Fortunately made the one on 15, two-putt 16, had a nice shot on 17, all of a sudden there was four in a row.”
Eighteen-hole leader Joe Durant made par on his first 10 holes, broke the seal at the 11th and closed with a bogey-free 69. He is a stroke out of the lead, with Thongchai Jaidee and defending champion Padraig Harrington sitting 9 under.
“I struck the ball well (Friday), but I really made some bad decisions on the golf course,” said Harrington, 51, who finished by making birdie from the fringe on 18. “I was clearly mentally tired from last week (at the U.S. Open in Los Angeles), it obviously took more out of me than I suspected. I was better that way today, scored quite well. Had five nice eagle — four nice eagle chances I think during the round, so there was obviously going to be a decent score going off the back of that. But it was nice to hole a 20-footer on the last.”
Regarding his position?
“It’s easier chasing, mentally easier chasing,” he said. “Clearly, I’d rather have the lead and be out in front, but when you’re chasing, nobody really knows _ if you go out there and play well, great, and if you don’t, nobody really sees that so much. It’s always, it’s a lot less stress being the chaser, but clearly you want to have that lead and have the chances.”
Odds & Ends
** Kevin Sutherland, Mr. 59 in 2014 at En-Joie, held the lead alone at 9-under having made six birdies through his first 12 holes. However, he played his last six in 2-over _ one day after being 7-under but playing those holes 4-over.
** Retief Goosen made eagles at the 12th and 16th holes on his way to a 66 with a single bogey (No. 7). He is the 11th player to make multiple eagles in a round this season.
** Five times the Dick’s Open champion has cracked 16-under 200. The tournament record remains Lonnie Nielsen’s 21-under 195 in 2009.
** Seeking a PGA Tour Champions-record 46th title, 2014 DSGO winner Bernhard Langer is T15 at 6-under 138.