Ernie Els, Greg Chalmers share KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship lead going to final round

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Ernie Els kept the mistakes to a minimum down the stretch Saturday and hit wedge in tight for birdie on his final hole for a 2-under 69, giving him a share of the lead with Greg Chalmers going into the final round of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

Chalmers, the left-handed Australian renowned for his putting, had a 66 while making only two bogeys, not a bad mark on the Harbor Shores Resort course that gave so many fits.

Els, a four-time major champion and among the best of his generation, is in great position to finally get a first major title on the senior circuit. This is his 17th senior major, and even he was surprised to be atop the leaderboard.

They were at 10-under 203.

Richard Bland of England started out at 12-under par and then began a quick slide through tentative putting and shot 74 to fall one shot behind.

“I’m fortunate enough to be up there,” Els said. “You know, 10-under is leading at the moment; 12-under was leading yesterday. I played solid. I didn’t play spectacular, but played solid enough to get myself up there.”

There was enough wind, difficult pin positions and tough greens on the Jack Nicklaus design that it took nearly six hours for the 83 players who made the cut to complete the third round.

“Hopefully, we can move better tomorrow,” Els said.

There could be a lot of movement on the leaderboard. Harbor Shores yielded its share of birdies, particularly on the par 5s that were downwind, but it didn’t take much for players to get out of position and find themselves scrambling for par.

Even so, it was crowded at the top.

Bland and Chris DiMarco, who didn’t make a birdie on the back nine in his round of 71, were one shot behind. Richard Green of Australia had two eagles and still only managed a 70 after a bogey on the final hole.

The four players who were three shots behind included defending champion Steve Stricker, former Open champion Stewart Cink and Jason Caron, a former PGA TOUR player and one of the club pros competing in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

Chalmers ran off five straight birdies starting on No. 6 to take the lead before his golf got a “little scratchy” on the back nine. It was the control of irons that left him thinking he has a good chance to capture his first senior major.

“Not super comfortable with my driver today, but I was very comfortable with every other area of my game,” Chalmers said. “So if I can just get that squared away for tomorrow, see if we can get out there and compete. Looks pretty bunched up at the moment, so should be an exciting day, hopefully.”

Bland struggled with the wind, distance control and his putting. He made four bogeys in a stretch of six holes around the turn — he made par on the downwind, par-5 ninth, which felt like a bogey — and found himself as many as two shots behind. He birdied the par-3 17th to get within one of Els and Chalmer.

Things to know

• Due to the threat of inclement weather Sunday afternoon, final-round tee times will feature threesomes off tee Nos. 1 and 10 from 7:15-9:38 a.m.
• Steve Stricker seeks an 18th PGA TOUR Champions win, and first of the 2024 season, in his title defense
  • Has finished inside the top 10 on five of six occasions this season (T32/Cologuard Classic) dating to the end of last season
  • Has made seven consecutive starts without a victory, matching his longest winless streak on PGA TOUR Champions
  • With a win this week, would join Hale Irwin (1996-1998) and Colin Montgomerie (2014-2015) as players to successfully defend a KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship title since 1975.
• After making the cut on the 3-over number in his continued recovery from a torn Achilles, 2017 winner Bernhard Langer birdied three of his first five holes on his way to a 6-under 65; is T20 at 3-under 210.
• John Senden was disqualified prior to the start of the third round for the improper use of a distance measuring device which occurred during the first round. The disqualification was a result of Senden’s failure to include a penalty on his first-round scorecard for a breach of Rule 4.3a(1).