A 7-Way Pileup at the Ally Challenge
By Tom Lang
GRAND BLANC – With near perfect weather conditions, several PGA Tour Champions shot near perfect scores to cause a huge log jam at the top of the leaderboard of the Ally Challenge presented by McLaren after two rounds at Warwick Hills G&CC.
New leader Scott Dunlap fired a tournament record tying low score of 63 on Saturday, and combined with his Friday 70, he leads by one shot at 133 11-under par total, ahead of Steve Stricker, Padraig Harrington and Brett Quigley who are all at 134. Stricker joined the trio at 10-under par by shooting a 64 in Saturday’s round.
Dunlap birdied five of the last six holes to grab the one-shot lead.
“Yeah, a little putter changed that's helped this week,” he said signing his scorecard. “Yesterday was a little better ball-striking-wise, too. So, you never know when something like this is going to happen. But a joy it is. Nowadays, just a day at a time. Enjoy the good ones but try not to think too much of the bad ones.”
Dunlap commented about the traditions at the course, especially the Buick Open run of five decades.
“I did not play here much on Tour back in the day,” he said. “It was just one of those weeks, probably around the British Open and I was coming back, it was easy to take off.
“The guys have been playing here a million years and shoot low scores. It's like, man, I still got to figure this out just to even make the cut. It was very easy not to play. So, I'm still kind of figuring it out now post-50. But now I have been here enough I have got no excuses. And yeah, this is a ball-hitter's golf course. It's narrow. But if you're between the trees and in play, you have got chances. And you got to take advantage of them.
Several more players are within striking distance going into Sunday’s final round. Duffey Waldorf, Ernie Els and Stephen Ames are just two back at 135, 9-under. Five more players are only three strokes back, including defending champion Joe Durant.
Harrington – who won last week at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open – made a spectacular save on the par 4 9th green to stay close. He put his approach shot in the back left bunker. After blasting out, his ball scooted past the hole with too much speed and went across the green and rolled all the way off the steep apron. With about 45 feet remaining back up the hill, he popped that fourth shot high into the sky and watched it drop near the hole and roll in for a sensational save and an appreciative roar by the fans.
Stricker’s 64 on Saturday put him is position to possibly take over in the final grouping and if so, will earn his second win this year. He scored nine birdies and one bogey in round two.
“I finally made some putts, he said. “And I got to give credit to my pal Jerry, Jerry Kelly. Yeah, I gave him a putting lesson a couple months ago, and Nicki and him worked on me last night, and they noticed a couple things that I wasn't doing very well. And here I give all these lessons and they're telling me the same things that I tell them. So just not paying attention to some of the basics that I have been doing throughout my career. And Jerry pointed those out to me. And Nicki, too. They were both there. And I putted a lot better today. I started the ball online a lot, and had good speed, and finally made a few.”
It's a safe bet whomever makes putts at Warwick Sunday will walk away with the trophy.
