STEVENS POINT, Wis. — After his first look at SentryWorld as a championship golf course, Padraig Harrington said it would prove to be a good layout to come from behind on. Birdies are there to be had, along with trouble.
Steve Stricker agreed with that assessment – and the Madison resident will find himself doing just that as he heads to the weekend looking to make up three shots on U.S. Senior Open leader Bernhard Langer.
Four other golfers stand between Stricker and the top of the leaderboard heading into Saturday’s third round, including fellow Madison resident and good friend Jerry Kelly. Kelly shot a 1-under 71 and is 1 under for the tournament, tied for third with Dicky Pride and Retief Goosen.
First-round leader Rod Pampling is alone in second at 2 under.
Stricker and Kelly will be chasing together, too, as they will be paired together Saturday and tee off at 1:29 p.m. ET off No. 1.
“I mean, yeah, that’s a fairytale week even for us,” Kelly acknowledged. “I mean, it’s pretty cool. I’m all for that. We really enjoy playing with each other. It will just make it that much cooler.”
Kelly got to 2 under at one point in the tournament, but a couple of bogeys on the front nine (his back nine) had him come in just shy of Langer and Pampling.
“It’s much more penalizing,” Kelly said of the course. “It can jump up and bite you on what you would consider the easiest holes. It doesn’t make any difference. If you get in that rough, you’re going to struggle. That’s just all there is to it.
“I think the way the greens are the putting’s not going to get any easier, and the putting is difficult already. It’s going to be a test on the weekend. It’s going to be a test of patience.”
As for Stricker, he admitted he fought himself a bit during the opening round of the tournament to finish 1 over. He acknowledged the nerves of being a home-state favorite, having a Tour-record streak of rounds of par or better on the line, and then managing his emotions after uncharacteristic errors led to big numbers.
It led to him beginning his second round four shots back of Pampling.
But Stricker got it going early Friday, maneuvering around his first 14 holes at 3-under to pull within a shot of the lead. But then Stricker bogeyed No. 6 and No. 9 – where his temper flashed after hacking out of the rough following an offline tee shot.
“It’s just I know how important it is to drive it in the fairway there, and I just didn’t put a…
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