Day three of the Kualig Companies Championship on Firestone provided yet more twists and turns on moving day. Another testing day saw only seventeen players under par after 54 holes on the formidable south course. Steve Stricker faced charges all afternoon but came out on top, just. He leads by one heading into the final day of the fourth major of the Champions Tour season.
A fascinating afternoon of golf played out in Akron, Ohio as challenges at the top came thick and fast. One man who grabbed his opportunity with both hands this week is Michael Wright. He came into the week as the final player in the field as an alternate and put in a belting day around this spicy Firestone course. The Champions’ Tour rookie put in the best round of his tour career with eight birdies including a run of five from the par-4 3rd hole. Only one dropped shot saw Wright sit with the clubhouse lead of six-under as the afternoon progressed.
Wright spoke about his emotions during a surreal round as a tour rookie in a major: “Fun. Yeah, no, I had a lot of fun out there today,” he recalled. “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, I had forgotten to write the scores, so just had a real just zone experience through that middle of the round. Then maybe caught up with me a little bit towards the end. No, it was just a fun day and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Defending champion and overnight leader, Stricker was dabbling with the lead throughout the back nine. His birdie-bogey-birdie run from the 14th finishing with a chip-in on the 16th would see him nudge ahead of Wright on -7 and one clear at the top. This was short lived however, as from the left side rough on the 17th Ernie Els would hit a one bounce eagle two on the par-4 17th to tie the lead with Stricker, before the 2021 US Ryder Cup captain’s 54th-hole birdie saw him take sole possession of the lead once again.
“I didn’t play very well today, I scored well,” said Stricker afterwards, and it’s a golf course that has typically served him well through the years. “Yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know what it is. It’s a tough golf course.
“You get out of position, you have to rely on your short game a lot and I got out of position quite a bit of times today, quite a few times I should say. Yeah, you’ve just got to keep grinding it out. It’s one of those courses that just keeps coming after you, too. If you’re off a little bit, you pay the price.”
Els was quizzed about his day, coming after recent back-to-back wins on the Champions’ Tour, how that will help his approach into the final day, as he seeks his first major on Tour: “Yeah, it’s always nice to have a bit of confidence after you’ve won. You’ve got to make big shots, make big putts, I’ve kind of done that in the two wins,” said Els. “You know, I’m playing probably Steve Stricker tomorrow, he’s won here a bunch of times. Jerry Kelly’s up there, a heck of a leaderboard. There’s a lot of bunched up guys, quality players. It could still be a shootout tomorrow.”
Not to be outdone, Sweden’s Robert Karlsson joined the fun with a birdie on his final hole to make a three-way tie at the top with the defending champ and the ‘Big Easy’. Stricker matched the Swede’s birdie on the 18th however to lead by a short nose heading into the final day on Firestone. Wright’s 63 today gives the top-ten players hope heading into the final day that there is a low number on this course to be posted. Kelly and K.J. Choi join Wright in 4th just three back from the lead, still in the hunt in Ohio.
Darren Clarke was neat and tidy on his third journey around with a pair of birdies and a pair of bogeys, the latter coming on the 17th and 18th holes. He sits tied for 23rd heading into Sunday with plenty of scope for upward mobility for Clarke on the final day.
The leading trio of Stricker, Karlsson and Els head out at 16.11 Irish time on Sunday to battle it out over the final 18 holes. An intriguing Sunday awaits with a bunched pack at the top and a tricky Firestone Sunday. Darren Clarke heads out at 14.47 with Gogel and Richard Green for company as he tries to make moves toward the top of the leaderboard.