Padraig Harrington once again finds himself well positioned to make a title challenge on the final day of a Major after a third round 68 at the Kitchenaid Senior PGA Championship.
The Dubliner is in tied 8th place on 7-under par, just.five shots off the pace being set by Canadian Stephen Ames and he made all his gains on the back nine on Saturday where, after turning in 36 strokes, he birdied three in a row from the eleventh before giving one back on the fourteenth.
He followed that up with two more birdies on fifteen and seventeen before a final hole bogey cost him a share of fifth overnight.
Darren Clarke had a similarly eventful back nine with five birdies and just one dropped shot as he also carded a 68 and sits in a tie of 26th place on 3-under par.
Stephen Ames though will take the lead heading into the final round after posting a four under par round of 67 and he’s two shots ahead of Germany’s Bernhard Langer and Mike Weir of Canada.
Ames who has 13 professional wins to his name including The Players Championship in 2006 and two European Tour wins posted five birdies and one bogey to climb above fellow Canadian and 2003 Masters winner Weir.
The 58-year-old admits that heading into the final round tomorrow he will aim to stick to his own game plan, which has been flourishing thus far.
“Either way I look at it, I’m going to go out there and play my own game,” Ames said. “I can’t control what anybody else is doing. The only thing I can control is myself, so I’m going to try and keep my emotions the way they are right now and play golf, and if it comes out, it comes out.
“I enjoyed the way I played, the way I handled myself, first of all. Second, I hit the ball right where I was looking at it all day, that helps, obviously. And again, I made some nice putts, which is obviously a key to shooting a good round on a major.”
Bernhard Langer made five birdies and one bogey to settle for a round of 67 – one shot better than his first two rounds – firmly putting the pressure on Ames and said he hopes to come out on top tomorrow.
“I think all the guys out here obviously have played golf for a very long time,” Langer said.
“If you are over 50, you’ve been playing this game a long time and they have all won championships. I don’t think there’s anybody on leaderboard that hasn’t won tournaments. A degree, I might have won a few more than most of the guys. Hopefully there will be another one tomorrow, we’ll see.”
American Paul Goydos sits in fourth position after posting a blemish-free round of 67, closely followed by 2021 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship winner Alex Čejka, Steven Alker of New Zealand and Brian Gay from the United States on eight under par. Five players take up joint eighth position including Miguel Ángel Jiménez and Padraig Harrington.
The final round will be begin at 8:15am local time on Sunday May 29, with Ames, Langer and Weir comprising the last group at 12:50pm.
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