Richard Green watches his shot from the tee on the third hole during the first round of the Kaulig Companies Championship at Firestone Country Club, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Akron, Ohio. Australian Richard Green shot 8 under par and 62 strokes on Saturday to take the lead after two rounds at the Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary.
Green made a stunning start to his round, collecting nine birdies in the first 11 holes. He recorded a double bogey on the par-3 12th, but got back on track with birdies on holes 15 and 18 to sit at 13-under 127 for the tournament.
“It was fun. You know, a really hot round like this has been in the pipeline for a while,” Green said. “I just couldn’t get the putter to work, but today I did. The putts went in right when I saw them, which was nice.”
“It was a shame that the 12th happened to me, but it would have been nice to build on this great birdie streak and keep going and try to get an even better result.”
Boo Weekley and New Zealander Steven Alker are tied for second place, one stroke behind, after shooting a match-winning 7-under-par 63 at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club.
Weekley was on track to make a clean sweep until he reached the par-4 17th, where he had to settle for a bogey after his second shot found the first cut of the rough. However, he responded with his eighth birdie of the day on the 18th.
“It feels good to finally be able to say that the hard work I put in is finally paying off and a little progress is visible,” Weekley said.
Meanwhile, Alker was on fire on the back nine, making six birdies to finish his round with eight. He also had just one bogey.
Ken Tanigawa was the best player in the first round with a 9-under-par 61 shot, moving him up 36 places to fourth place with Irishman Padraig Harrington (64 on Saturday) and Jason Caron (64), each member of this trio two shots behind the leader.
A hole-in-one on the par-3 16th hole was the highlight of Tanigawa’s performance, where he also scored seven birdies.
“It was a little unexpected to get a hole-in-one,” Tanigawa said. “Yeah, I just hit a 5-iron, a really good 5-iron on 16, yeah, and that kind of thing, right? I didn’t see the ball go in the hole, but it was flying right towards it. You hear all the commotion up there, so you get a rough idea it went in.”
Mario Tiziani (66) and Wes Short Jr. (66) are three strokes behind Green and are T7, while Englishman Darren Clarke (64) and Australian Steve Allan (65) are four strokes behind in ninth place.
–Field level media
