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Playing his 200th round on the PGA TOUR Champions, New Zealander Steven Alker fired the low round of the day to lead the Kaulig Companies Championship, where Cameron Percy is tied 11th and the best of the Australians.
An eight-time winner since turning 50, Alker sits at 7-under and one clear of defending champion Steve Stricker after a second round 65 that included seven birdies and a double-bogey at the fourth.
Alker’s scrambling from the tree-lined fairways on the back nine of Firestone Country Club keeping him clear at the top as he chases a second senior major championship win.
“I felt it early on, I was in the groove hitting my irons well, making a few putts,” Alker said.
“Very sloppy double on four … but eliminated that pretty quickly, made a couple of birdies coming back on the back nine.
“Then just got a bit loose on the back nine, but that happens around here. You get four rounds, you’re going to have one of those rounds where it’s just not quite there, you’ve got to work your butt off to make pars and I did that.”
Signing for an even par 70 to be 1-under and just outside the top-10, Percy is one of just 16 players under par for the tournament having made his senior debut at the recent KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship following his qualifying school victory before his 50th birthday in May.
Sitting one back of the lead after Round 1, Percy’s fellow Victorian Richard Green birdied the last on Friday to sign for a 3-over round and a share of 17th with compatriot Mark Hensby on even par.
Queenslander Michael Wright is another shot back at 1-over and sharing 22nd after a second round 71 that included a hole-out eagle at the 418 yard par-4 11th, with Australasian trio Vijay Singh, Stuart Appleby and Steven Allan two shots further in arrears on 3-over.
Despite sitting well back of Alker’s lead, with no cut in the limited field event, John Senden on 4-over will hope to continue his climb up the leaderboard after a second round of 1-under 69 that included an eagle of his own at the par-5 second.
Rod Pampling hoping to emulate his fellow Queenslanders’ eagle making over the weekend to improve on his 6-over total, so too Greg Chalmers, who sits 8-over par through 36 holes.
The Kaulig Companies Championship is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.
Australasian Scores
1st Steven Alker -7
T11 Cameron Percy -1
T17 Mark Hensby EV
T11 Richard Green EV
T22 Michael Wright +1
T34 Vijay Singh +3
T34 Stuart Appleby +3
T34 Steven Allan +3
T40 John Senden +4
T56 Rod Pampling +6
T69 Greg Chalmers +8
