AKRON, Ohio — Steve Stricker chipped in twice for birdie on the final 5 holes and shot a 3-under 67 on Saturday at Firestone to take a one-stroke lead into the ultimate spherical of the Kaulig Corporations Championship.
Winless this season, Stricker is making an attempt to win the senior main championship for the third time in 4 years. He chipped in on the par-4 14th and 18th holes, the final getting him to 9-under 201 on the troublesome South course.
“I did not play very nicely immediately, I scored nicely,” mentioned Stricker, the 57-year-old Wisconsin participant who gained at Firestone in 2021 and 2023.
Corridor of Famer Ernie Els and Robert Karlsson have been tied for second. Els, a two-time winner this season, holed out from 132 yards from the tough for eagle on the par-4 seventeenth in a 64. Karlsson shot 66.
Stricker has seven main titles and 17 total victories on the 50-and-over tour. He had three bogeys within the spherical.
“It is a robust golf course,” Stricker mentioned. “You get out of place, it’s important to depend on your brief recreation quite a bit, and I obtained out of place fairly a couple of instances I ought to say. You have simply obtained to maintain grinding it out.
“It is a kind of programs that simply retains coming after you, too. Should you’re off a bit of bit, you pay the worth.”
Els used a wedge for the eagle on 16.
“Cannot see the ball land and I simply watched the gang behind,” Els mentioned. “The one tall man behind simply went actually ballistic, so I knew it was in so it was actually cool.”
Jerry Kelly, the 2020 and 2022 champion, had a 67 to affix fourth-alternate Michael Wright (63) and Ok.J. Choi (67) at 6 below. Wright had the low spherical of the day.
“I had a bit via the center of the spherical the place I truly blacked out,” Wright mentioned. “I did not even put any scores down on my scorecard, I had forgotten to put in writing the scores.”
Second-round chief Steven Alker had a 74 to drop right into a tie for tenth at 3 below.
The occasion — initially known as the Senior Gamers Championship — is the fourth of 5 majors on the PGA Tour Champions, with the winner getting a spot within the Gamers Championship in March.
