Senior Open golfers 'play on the moon' as Australian gets out in front at Gleneagles
Cameron Percy takes three-shot cushion into weekend as ‘hard golf course’ keeps him tuned in Pertshire
It was blowing a hoolie at Gleneagles, where jovial Jerry Kelly described the challenge in the second round of the ISPS HANDA Senior Open like “playing golf on the moon” due to the uncertainty about where balls would end up on an unusually bouncy King’s Course.
It didn’t stop the American posting a splendid 68, which added to an equally-impressive opening 66 in blustery afternoon conditions on Thursday, left him sitting on six-under-par at the halfway stage in the final over-50s’ major of the season at the Perthshire venue.
At the time he finished, it looked as though Kelly could well lead heading into the weekend, but that’s not the case due to a quite incredible performance so far from Cameron Percy, a 52-year-old Australian who wasn’t exactly on the list of leading contenders coming into this week.
His only professional win outside Australia came on the Web.com Tour in 2014, though he did lose out in a play-off that also featured Scot Martin Laird in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on the PGA Tour in 2010.
Playing in this event, however, is bringing out the best in Percy. Twelve months after finishing fifth behind Padraig Harrington at Sunningdale on his debut, the Victoria man opened with an eye-catching 63 on Thursday then followed that up with a second-round 68 to sit on nine under - three strokes clear of the field.
On a day when a westerly wind blew consistently around 16mph but gusted to 30mph, Percy was two over through eight holes before steadying the ship with a birdie at the ninth then adding further gains at the 13th, 14th and 18th coming home.
“Yesterday I hit it everywhere I was looking, so it was pretty easy,” admitted the leader. “Today was way harder trying to judge how much the wind would hit shots. I’m obviously very happy with my position as it is such a hard golf course. You can lose a ball on every shot and that’s what I like as it keeps me tuned in and I don’t get lazy.”
Kelly, a regular in this event since joining the Senior ranks, mixed four birdies with two bogeys in his second-round score. “It's kind of like playing golf on the moon and not knowing what gravity is going to do to your ball, how far you're going to hit it and where it's going it land and hitting the craters and going all over the place,” he said of this week’s test.
“It's acceptance, and that's normally not my game. But I brought it this week, and I hope I continue to bring it because you're going to be wrong, and it's going to bounce in places that you don’t want it to. But just go get it done the next time. I'm always learning.”
With three holes of his second round to go, Paul Lawrie had a lofty position on the leaderboard in his sights after making back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th holes to get to two under for the tournament only to undo that good work. “I hit a lovely shot into 16 to about 20 feet but three-putted it,” reported the Aberdonian. “Bogeyed 17 and three-putted the last for a (par) 5. Apart from that, I am tickety f****** boo! (laughing).”
Having opened with rounds of 69-71, Lawrie is still in with a chance heading into the weekend as he bids to join an elite group of players to win both The Open and Senior Open, with two-time Claret Jug winner Harrington earning membership of that club 12 months ago.
“I’ve played lovely for two days and got nothing out of it as usual,” declared Lawrie, who, of course, claimed his Open Championship at Carnoustie in 1999. “Four, five six under would have been about right but, hey listen, that’s the game. You are not going to get everything you want. It’s not easy out there, so level par after two days is not a disaster. But, when you are a tour level professional golfer and you get in position, you don’t give it away on a tough day and I’ve just done that.”
Harrington came here as the US Senior Open champion and played in both the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open over the last fortnight. In contrast, Lawrie has only played in four Legends Tour events this year, as well as a recent outing on the Tartan Pro Tour.
“I have the perfect life now,” said the 57-year-old. “I play between six and eight tournaments a year, I hit balls every morning and I play nine holes every morning. Then go to to my office (at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre on the outskirts of Aberdeen) for about two hours and then I go home and I’m on the beer at four o’clock. Who doesn’t want that life? And the nightmare is I have to play tournaments now and again (laughing). Honestly, no-one has a better life than me.”
While eight-time European No 1 Colin Montgomerie was one of the biggest names to make an early exit even with the cut falling at five over, Stephen Gallacher followed his opening 72 with a 69 to sit just a shot behind Lawrie at the midpoint in the $2 million tournament.
“Yeah, it is borderline out there at the moment - my ball was moving on 17,” said Gallacher, who played on a winning Ryder Cup team here in 2014. “That’s two days we’ve had a really strong wind. It was so hard out there, so I am delighted to shoot under par. I’ve had four or five three-putts. So, if I can putt decent over the weekend and I play like I did today, then who knows what might happen.”
In conditions like these, it’s almost more of a mental challenge than anything else. “It’s just a battle,” observed Gallacher. “Any time you play a major, regardless of whether it is a Senior one or a regular one, it’s your toughest exam paper. You just know that you are going to have a hard shot every time.”
Former Open winners Ernie Els and Henrik Stenson both sit five shots off the lead, with Harrington nine adrift and Stewart Cink, a two-time major winner this year, a further shot back. As Darren Clarke, the 2022 winner here, crashed out along with Montgomerie, Alastair Forsyth, Greig Hutcheon and David Drysdale joined Lawrie and Gallacher in making the weekend action.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.