Richard Green watches his shot from the tee on the third hole during the first round of the Kaulig Companies Championship at Firestone Country Club, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Akron, Ohio. Richard Green of Australia carded an 8-under 62 on Saturday to jump into the lead after two rounds of action at the Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary.
Green put together a stunning start to his round, collecting nine birdies through the first 11 holes. He recorded a double bogey at the par-3 12th but got back on track with birdies at Nos. 15 and 18 to sit at 13-under 127 for the tournament.
“That was fun. You know, it’s been in the making for a while now, a really hot round like that,” Green said. “I just haven’t been able to get the putter going, and today I did. The putts were going in just as I was seeing them, which was nice.
“It was a shame that 12 happened to me, but would’ve been nice to progress on from that great run of birdies and continue on and try (to get) an even better score.”
Boo Weekley and New Zealand’s Steven Alker are one shot back in a tie for second after shooting matching 7-under 63s at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club.
Weekley was on track to turn in a clean card until he hit the par-4 17th, where he had to settle for bogey after his second shot found the first cut of rough. He responded with his eighth birdie of the day at No. 18, though.
“It feels good to finally be able to say the hard work I’ve been putting in is finally starting to show up and show a little progress,” Weekley said.
Meanwhile, Alker got hot on the back nine, racking up six birdies to finish with eight for his round. He too had just one bogey.
Ken Tanigawa had low-round honors with a 9-under 61, moving him 36 spots up the leaderboard and into a tie for fourth with Irishman Padraig Harrington (64 on Saturday) and Jason Caron (64). Each member of that trio is two strokes off the lead.
A hole-in-one at the par-3 16th was the highlight of Tanigawa’s outing, which also included seven birdies.
“It was a little unexpected getting a hole-in-one,” Tanigawa said. “Yeah, just hit a 5-iron, really good 5-iron on 16, yeah, and just one of those things, right? Didn’t see it go in the hole, but it was going right towards it. You hear all the hoopla up there so you kind of have an idea it went in.”
Mario Tiziani (66) and Wes Short Jr. (66) trail Green by three shots and are T7, while England’s Darren Clarke (64) and Steve Allan of Australia (65) are tied for ninth, four shots back.
–Field Level Media
