Aussie Richard Green keeps up hot form in senior majors
Australia’s Richard Green will be aiming to make it third time lucky after continuing his stellar form at golf’s senior major championships.
Green is in the top three after the first round for the third time in as many senior majors after shooting a three-under 67 to be one off the pace at the Kaulig Companies Championship in Akron, Ohio on Thursday.
Yet to win on the Champions Tour, the 53-year-old Victorian left-hander has been threatening a big-time breakthrough in the over-50 ranks for weeks.
He tied for third at last month’s US Senior Open after being tied for the lead after the first round and he finished second at the Senior PGA Championship a month earlier after also being tied first following day one.
A three-time winner on the regular European tour, Green has yet to miss a cut in 14 Champions Tour starts this season.
Defending champion Steve Stricker and Duffy Walfdorf lead the Kaulig Companies Championship after posting rounds of 66 at Firestone Country Club, with Green tied third along with Kenny Perry.
Close behind at two-under 68 are New Zealand’s Steven Alker, Angel Cabrera of Argentina, Steve Flesch, Tim O’Neal and Paul Stankowski.
Australians Mark Hensby and Cameron Percy shot 69, while Michael Wright shot 70. Steve Allan, Rod Pampling and Stuart Appleby all had 72s, Greg Chalmers a 73 and John Senden 75.
Stricker, 57, has yet to win on the PGA Tour Champions this year but has 17 titles to his name, including seven majors.
He also won the Senior Players in 2021 and was runner-up in 2022 before capturing his second title at Firestone in 2023.
“I have a lot of confidence going around here, I enjoy being here,” Stricker said.
“I have a pretty good idea how to play the course. I’ve seen a bunch of different wind conditions here, different firmness conditions. … It’s just trying to manage my game, I think, more than anything. It’s trying to put together good swings and good putts.”
Waldorf, 61, is in the hunt for his first senior major title and his first win of any kind on the PGA Tour Champions since 2016.
with AAP
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