RD3 RESULTS: 2024 Kaulig Companies Championship

It might be a cliché but they don’t call Saturday “moving day” on professional golf tours just for the heck of it.

It certainly was that on a frantic Saturday at Firestone during the third round of the PGA Tour Champions, where the leaderboard underwent such spastic changes that scorekeepers might have required a sedative.

Some guys moved up the board. Some moved down. Some moved up, then down, then back up again.

Some started in the middle, moved up and stayed there. Some started at top, moved down and were never heard from again.

If Sunday’s final round unfolds in similar fashion fans won’t know where to go, who to watch.

The third round introduced new faces in unheralded Australian Michael Wright and little-known Y.E. Yang, Sweden’s Robert Karlsson and Paul Stankowski.

But, familiar faces such as two-time champion Steve Stricker, World Golf Hall-of-Famer Ernie Els, 2022 champion Jerry Kelly, and last year’s contender K.J. Choi reminded us of why we know them.

We also saw one of the hottest players on the PGA Tour Champions melt in the 90-degree heat.

To see how the day went, how things changed and how a wild Saturday moved, check out this timeline:
At 12:15: Alker -8, Stricker -7, Kelly -6, Perry -5, Karlsson -5, Cabrera -4, Stankowski -4, Choi -4, Els -3.
At 12:30: Alker -8, Stricker -7, Kelly -6, Perry -6, Karlsson -5, Choi -5, Cabrera -5, Weir -4.
At 1 p.m.: Alker -8, Stricker -8, Kelly -6, Karlsson -6, Choi -6, Perry -6, Wright -5, Cabrera -5.
At 2:15: Wright -7, Kelly -7, Karlsson -7, Stricker -7, Choi -6, Perry -6, Els -5, Yang -4, Stankowski -4, Cabrera -4. Alker -4.
At 3 p.m.: Stricker -8, Els -8, Karlsson -7, Wright -6, Kelly -6, Choi -6, Yang -5, Stankowski -5, Weir -3.
At 4 p.m.: Stricker -9, Els -8, Karlsson -8, Wright -6, Kelly -6, Choi -6, Yang -6, Stankowski -5, Perry -4, Weir -3.

For most of Saturday it appeared Wright, a delightful 50-year-old from Gympie, Australia would be the story of the day.

Winless in America with no top-10s, making his first appearance at Firestone and starting the day at one-over 141, Wright birdied five holes in a row on the front nine to make the turn in 30, then birdied three in a row on the back.

He flirted with tournament’s low 18-hole record of 8-under 62 until a bogey on the 17th hole had him settle for a 63 to leave him at 6-under 204 and in a three-way tie for fourth place with Kelly (67) and Choi (67).

He was playing so well that he got into those mental zones athletes talk about, where the world disappears and every shot he looks at goes where it’s supposed to. Unlike most pros he literally could not remember his shot sequence, how far his putts were or what his score was. He said he did not realize he birdied those five in a row.

“I had a lot of fun out there today,” he said. “I had a section through the middle of the round where I actually blacked out. I didn’t even put any scores down on my scorecard. Just everything I looked at went in. It was just one of those days. Even though you’re in the blackout sort of period it’s still fun to see the ball go in. And, everywhere you look the ball’s going there. There’s not many days where you have that. I had a blast. I love this place.”

When asked what it felt like when everything was going the way he envisioned, he said, “Bliss.”

You have to think this could be Wright’s week, his time to get that first victory on the PGA Tour Champions. He arrived in Akron as an alternate and gained entry into the tournament when Harrison Frazar withdrew with a sore neck. He could leave as a champion.

He said his longest successful put was 15 feet, which saved par on the eighth hole.

“I hit a lot of really good shots close to the hole, the ones sort of 10 to 12 feet,” he said.

Did he have a lot of those?

“Well, like I said, I can’t really remember because I blacked out. But there would have been a few in there and then a few I knocked stiff.”

To make the round even sweeter, his 18-year-old son, Noah, was on the bag.

Stricker, who won here last year and in 2021, caught fire on the back nine and birdied three of his final five holes to finish with a 67 and take the lead at 9-under 201. It marks the 20th time Stricker has led or co-led entering the final round on PGA Tour champions. He is 12-for-19 converting those to wins, including 6-for-8 in-72 hole events.

Els, 54, flashed his HOF credentials with a 6-under 64, pulling into a tie for second with Karlsson at 8-under 202, one behind Stricker.

Els played bogey-free and highlighted his round –best of the day with Yang – by holing out form eagle from 132 yards on the 400- yard 17th.

The eagle came after Els rolled in a 35-foot putt for birdie on the famed 16th, which he said was playing 50-yards shorter than the listed 640.

“I had 132 yards out of the rough on 17 and one of those things, crazy game, the ball came out beautifully,” he said. “You can’t see the ball land and I just watched the crowd behind (the green). One really tall guy just went really, you know, ballistic, so I knew it was really cool.”

Stricker, 57, chipped in twice during his round, canning one from just off the green on the 460-yard 14th and again on the closing hole when his second came to rest on a knob on the right.

Stricker said he didn’t play well but scored well. He birdied three of his last five holes.

“I haven’t chipped in for a while so to have two chip-ins on that side was pretty good,” he said. “It was a battle. I’m battling. Mentally, I’m battling. Physically, at times, my swing, I’m battling. Probably more mentally than anything. I just don’t have a lot of self-belief right now for some reason on the golf course. So, I’m battling on every shot.”

Karlsson, winless on the Tour Champions, also played bogey-free and turned in his second straight 66 to share second place with Els.

He said the key to his round included some good fortune. He finished with a birdie on the 18th.

“When I hit bad shots I got away with it,” said Karlsson, 54. “It’s a little bit you have to do that on this golf course. I hit a couple of poor drives and one I put myself in bad, bad position. But, the other ones I got away with. That’d what happens when you are playing well.”

His last 36 holes with 11 birdies and one bogey have marked a turn-around for Karlsson, who has missed the cut in two of his last five events but had a tie for 10th – his best finish of the year — in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

This is the first time he has been in serious contention in some time. Hitting 15 greens in regulation can do that.

“It’s just good to be here,” said Karlsson, who has bounced back from knee surgery. “That’s why you play these events, you want to play with the best players under the hardest circumstances and the best golf courses and this is definitely one of them.”

Second-round leader Steven Alker had a rough day with four bogeys and one double to shoot 74 and fall five shots out of the lead.

The final round is scheduled to begin at 9:05 off both tees with the top 39 players going off the first tee. Wright, Kelly and Choi go off at 11 a.m. and Stricker, Els and Wright set for 11:11.