It’s all about perspective for Ernie Els and Jerry Kelly, the co-leaders of the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. Both are tied at 15-under 124, which matches the 36-hole tournament record, and they share a four-shot lead over the field.
Els shot a 64 — his best career round at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth — and left the course in a good place. Kelly, who shot a tournament-record 62 on Friday, followed with a 67 and declared his game a disaster.
The duo will start Sunday with a four-shot advantage over a pair of two-time major champions — Angel Cabrera, who had one of three 64s posted Saturday, and Vijay Singh, who shot 67. Steven Alker is tied for fifth after a 67 left him at 9-under 135. Brett Quigley (66) and Paul Broadhurst (67) are tied for sixth at 8 under.
Two-time defending champion Stephen Ames shot 68 but will start the final round at 4 under — 10 shots off the lead.
Els said, “It was a great round. We had a really good three-ball (pairing) — Vijay played great and Jerry played great, myself … A lot of birdies, so good momentum going. All in all, turned out a pretty solid day.”
But Kelly had a different point of view. “I hit it bad. I probably tried six, eight different Band-Aids and swings. Some of them hit good once and then it went bad. It wasn’t very pretty, but I still got enough birdies to stay at least tied with him.”
Kelly maintained a one-shot lead until the final hole, a par-5 over water. Els made a birdie there after drawing a 3-iron into the difficult hole location near the front of the 18th green. Kelly chose to lay up, almost put his approach in the pond and settled for par.
“Absolute normal what was going on all day,” he said. “Hit was I thought was the right distance but felt my balance was off on my follow through, so I was probably on my toes, so it went shorter. It’s just the little mistakes. That one was an inch from going in the water. I’m lucky it didn’t.”
Els will try to win for the second time this year His other victory came at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. He has seven career wins on the PGA Tour Seniors circuit.
“We’ve just got to play,” Els said. “We’re tied up there now. Somebody could come out of the pack and shoot a good front nine and he could be tied with us if we don’t get momentum going. You’ve got keep it in front of you and play, see what happens on the back nine.”
Kelly has won 12 times on PGA Tour Seniors, the last one coming last fall at the SAS Championship. He left the course looking for answers.
“I’ll get it done,” he said. “The bottom of a glass of wine … you could be amazed what you can find about your golf swing.”
Cabrera, the 2007 U.S. Open champion and 2009 Masters champion, has played well since returning to full-time competition this year after serving more than two years in prison in South America for domestic violence. Cabrera won the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational earlier this spring and is No. 4 on the Charles Schwab Cup points list.
Play begins Sunday at 10:48 a.m. with threesomes going off both sides. The leaders start at 1 p.m.
The final round will be televised on Golf Channel from 3-6 p.m.
The Georgia connections
Tournament host Stewart Cink had it rolling Saturday. He was 5 under through 13 when he hit the brakes. A bogey on the final hole left him with a 4-under 68 for the day and leaves him tied for eighth at 7 under — seven shots behind the co-leaders. The Georgia Tech grad has his son Reagan on the bag this week.
Savannah native Tim O’Neal shot 69 on Saturday and is tied with Cink at 7 under. O’Neal, who won the Georgia Amateur in 1997, tied for 10th at the Mitsubishi in 2023.
Davis Love III of Sea Island, in his first competition since heart surgery in January, shot 70 — five shots better than his opening round — and is tied for 51st.
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