Steven Alker, Tim Petrovic join lead at Kaulig Companies Championship
Steven Alker plays his shot on the fourth hole during the second round of the Kaulig Companies Championship 2025 at Firestone Country Club on 20 June 2025 in Akron, Ohio.
Photo:
David Berding / Getty Images / AFP
Tim Petrovic fired a 66 and New Zealand's Steven Alker posted a 67 to join Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina for the 36-hole lead at the Kaulig Companies Championship, the third major of the PGA Tour Champions season, in Akron, Ohio.
Gonzalez was a first-round co-leader and shot 68 on Friday (local time) to stay in contention. The leading trio is 5-under-par 135 after two rounds, one ahead of Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, whose 66 Friday brought him to 4 under. Sweden's Freddie Jacobson (67) is alone in fifth at 3 under.
Petrovic balanced seven birdies against three bogeys Friday at Firestone Country Club, finishing by rolling in a birdie putt at the par-4 ninth to grab his share of the lead.
Petrovic, 58, is the surprise of the week thus far. He has yet to win on the PGA Tour Champions and entered the week a pedestrian 38th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
"I've been hitting it well the last few weeks and I just haven't had much to show for it because I haven't really had many putts," Petrovic said.
Tim Petrovic of the US plays his shot on the sixth hole during the second round of the Kaulig Companies Championship 2025 at Firestone Country Club on 20 June 2025 in Akron, Ohio.
Photo:
David Berding / Getty Images / AFP
"Then made a couple long putts early, I'm like, 'Oh, wait a second, maybe we've got something going here'."
Alker, the 2022 and 2024 Schwab Cup winner, is hunting for his second senior major championship.
He birdied four of his first six holes Friday before dropping off a bit, with two bogeys and a birdie the rest of the way.
"If you get a good start around this golf course you kind of don't have to be as aggressive as you normally would be," Alker said.
"Yeah, just pleased to get under par again out here."
One of the rounds of the day belonged to Jimenez, the current Schwab Cup leader with three wins under his belt already in 2025.
He was 5 under par through 16 holes before taking his only bogey of the round at No. 17. If not for that bogey, he'd be part of the tie at the top.
"You need to have a lot of patience here," Jimenez said of Firestone.
"It's a golf course that you have a couple slopes in the fairway, 4, 8, 9 ... It's a very fair golf course overall. You need to hit good, here is no luck, you need to hit good to score well."
Angel Cabrera of Argentina, the PGA Tour Champions newcomer who won the first two majors of the season, is not far behind at 1 under after shooting 68 Friday.
- Field Level Media
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
2 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Golf: Steven Alker leads major championship; Dame Lydia Ko, Ryan Fox climb leaderboards
Steven Alker has made a strong start in his bid for a 10th win on the PGA Tour Champions. The Kiwi sits in a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard of the tour's third major championship of the year, the Kaulig Companies Championship, in Ohio. Alker backed
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Steven Alker, Tim Petrovic join lead at Kaulig Companies Championship
Steven Alker plays his shot on the fourth hole during the second round of the Kaulig Companies Championship 2025 at Firestone Country Club on 20 June 2025 in Akron, Ohio. Photo: David Berding / Getty Images / AFP Tim Petrovic fired a 66 and New Zealand's Steven Alker posted a 67 to join Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina for the 36-hole lead at the Kaulig Companies Championship, the third major of the PGA Tour Champions season, in Akron, Ohio. Gonzalez was a first-round co-leader and shot 68 on Friday (local time) to stay in contention. The leading trio is 5-under-par 135 after two rounds, one ahead of Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, whose 66 Friday brought him to 4 under. Sweden's Freddie Jacobson (67) is alone in fifth at 3 under. Petrovic balanced seven birdies against three bogeys Friday at Firestone Country Club, finishing by rolling in a birdie putt at the par-4 ninth to grab his share of the lead. Petrovic, 58, is the surprise of the week thus far. He has yet to win on the PGA Tour Champions and entered the week a pedestrian 38th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. "I've been hitting it well the last few weeks and I just haven't had much to show for it because I haven't really had many putts," Petrovic said. Tim Petrovic of the US plays his shot on the sixth hole during the second round of the Kaulig Companies Championship 2025 at Firestone Country Club on 20 June 2025 in Akron, Ohio. Photo: David Berding / Getty Images / AFP "Then made a couple long putts early, I'm like, 'Oh, wait a second, maybe we've got something going here'." Alker, the 2022 and 2024 Schwab Cup winner, is hunting for his second senior major championship. He birdied four of his first six holes Friday before dropping off a bit, with two bogeys and a birdie the rest of the way. "If you get a good start around this golf course you kind of don't have to be as aggressive as you normally would be," Alker said. "Yeah, just pleased to get under par again out here." One of the rounds of the day belonged to Jimenez, the current Schwab Cup leader with three wins under his belt already in 2025. He was 5 under par through 16 holes before taking his only bogey of the round at No. 17. If not for that bogey, he'd be part of the tie at the top. "You need to have a lot of patience here," Jimenez said of Firestone. "It's a golf course that you have a couple slopes in the fairway, 4, 8, 9 ... It's a very fair golf course overall. You need to hit good, here is no luck, you need to hit good to score well." Angel Cabrera of Argentina, the PGA Tour Champions newcomer who won the first two majors of the season, is not far behind at 1 under after shooting 68 Friday. - Field Level Media
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Basketball: Pacers cruise past Thunder, send Finals to Game 7
The two teams' stars struggled in Game 6, with an injured Haliburton managing just 14 points, while Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21, but had eight turnovers. Photo: AFP / MADDIE MEYER Obi Toppin scored 20 off the bench to lead a balanced offensive effort as the Indiana Pacers evened the NBA Finals with a 108-91 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 on Thursday in Indianapolis. The Finals will go to a winner-take-all seventh game for the first time since 2016. Game 7 is Sunday in Oklahoma City. There was little drama Thursday, as Indiana jumped ahead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead. Andrew Nembhard added 17 points while Pascal Siakam had 16 points and 13 rebounds to move the Pacers within one win of their first NBA title. Tyrese Haliburton, playing through a calf injury, had 14 points and five assists, and T.J. McConnell contributed 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals. Indiana forced 21 turnovers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 21 points, but had a playoff career-worst eight turnovers and just two assists. Jalen Williams, who scored 40 points in Game 5, finished with just 16 points. Trailing by 30 entering the final quarter, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault pulled his starters, opting to save them for Game 7. Oklahoma City shot just 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) from beyond the arc - 1-for-11 in the first half. The Pacers took control in the second quarter, turning the tables on the Thunder. Oklahoma City won Games 4 and 5 the same way it had plenty of others this season - by turning up the pressure on defence and using that to fuel its offence. Over the final eight-minutes plus before halftime, Indiana's defence led the way on a 30-9 run to go into halftime with a 64-42 lead. The Pacers scored 11 of their 36 second-quarter points off the Thunder's seven turnovers. Haliburton, who had struggled early in games for much of the series even before straining his right calf early in Game 5, helped set the defensive tone for Indiana. In the final minute of the half, Haliburton elevated near the sideline for a steal off a Williams' pass, then quickly fired to Siakam as he was falling out of bounds. Siakam finished off the play with an emphatic dunk to stretch the lead to 20, then grabbed a rebound off a Chet Holmgren miss on the other end and buried an 18-footer just before the buzzer to send the Pacers into the locker room with a commanding lead. Indiana, which committed 23 turnovers in Game 5, had just two first-half turnovers on Thursday. The Pacers were slow-to-get-started on offence, going nearly four minutes into the game without a field goal and missing their first eight shots while falling behind 10-2. But it didn't take long for Indiana to close the gap, scoring eight consecutive points to tie the game less than a minute after hitting its first field goal. Moments later, the Pacers took the lead for the first time and what proved to be for good. After going without a field goal in Game 5, Haliburton missed his first four shots Thursday before taking a quick feed from Myles Turner off an offensive rebound and burying a 3-pointer with just more than four minutes remaining in the first quarter to put Indiana up 24-17. The Pacers continued to stretch their lead in the third, holding Oklahoma City to just 18 points. Indiana's James Johnson was ejected in the final minute after an altercation with Oklahoma City's Isaiah Joe. - Field Level Media
