Hot stretch vaults Green to top of leaderboard at PGA Tour Champions event in Calgary

CALGARY — Australian Richard Green fired 11 birdies on Saturday to vault to the top of the Rogers Charity Classic leaderboard.

If not for one bogey and one double bogey, Green could have tied or broken the course record of 61 at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club.

Instead, he had to settle for shooting a round of 8-under 62 to move into top spot at 13 under with one round to go at the PGA Tour Champions event.

“That was fun,” he said. “It’s been in the making for a while now, a really hot round like that. I haven’t been able to get the putter going and today I did. The putts were going in."

After bogeying the fifth hole, Green went 6 under over his next six holes to give him eight birdies in a nine-hole stretch. He then had a double bogey on the par-3 No. 12 before carding two more birdies down the stretch.

“I’ve had stretches throughout my career like that before where it gets hot,” he said. “It’s a great feeling and something that doesn’t happen very often, but certainly take the good when the good comes. It was just nice to see the ball rolling off the putter beautifully and going on the line that I was reading and then finding the hole.

“It was a shame about 12 to sort of just stunt it with momentum, but to turn it around and sort of claw it back to (8 under) was good.”

Steve Alker and Boo Weekly both had rounds of 7-under 63 and ended in a tie for second spot at 12 under.

Playing in the second group off the back nine of the par-70, 7,093-yard course, Ken Tanigawa had a hole-in-one on No. 16 to go with seven birdies. He tied the course record of 61.

“It was a little unexpected obviously getting a hole-in-one,” said Tanigawa, who’s in a three-way tie at 11 under with Padraig Harrington and Jason Caron.

“I just hit a very good 5 iron (from 203 yards). Didn’t see it go in the hole, but it was going right towards it. You hear all the hoopla up there, so you kind of have an idea it went in. Lucky enough it did.”

Canadian Golf Hall of Famer Stephen Ames birdied his final two holes for a round of 4-under 66 to move into a tie for 14th place with seven other golfers at 7 under.

“I’m just kind of getting it around right now,” said Ames, who helped bring the Champions Tour tournament to his former hometown in 2013. “I’m not firing on all cylinders. My golf swing feels a little wonky. I’m struggling with making putts on these greens, but overall I’m happy with my score and where I’m at right now.”

A week after coming from behind to win the Boeing Classic in Seattle, Ames said he could still improve on his best showing in Calgary. Nine years ago, he finished in a tie for fifth place.

“I’m in the mix,” Ames said. “If I give myself some opportunities (Sunday) and they happen, yeah I’ll get myself back into the middle of it.

“Look what happened last week Sunday — seven back and I came back and won, so you never know what’s going to happen. Seriously, that’s golf.”

After shooting 66 on Friday, Alan McLean of London, Ont., followed up with a 67 in Round 2 to finished tied with Ames as the top Canadian at 7 under.

“I feel like I’m probably one or two shots light at the end of the day,” said McLean, who was disappointed to finish bogey-par on his final two holes. “I hit the ball better probably on the whole better than I did yesterday and I missed a couple of putts. I feel like that’s the two or three shots.”

McLean was also in contention at last year’s tournament before carding a disappointing final round of 3-over 73 — something he’d definitely like to avoid on Sunday.

“Don’t be scared,” said McLean of his mindset going into the final round. “Golf is a little bit of live and die by the sword, but you can’t think of the what ifs. Just hit the shot in front of you and hopefully it’s a good one.”

Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., matched McLean’s round of 67 to move to 5 under through two rounds and into a 12-way tie for 25th spot.

Gordon Burns of Ajax, Ont., and Calgary’s Steve Blake shot 73 and 74 respectively and are well back of the leaders at 9 over and 13 over.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2024.