Who knew they’d hold the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor, and a Hartford Hawks reunion event would break out?
On the day The Broadmoor turned 100 years old, two former University of Hartford golf teammates celebrated by both being among the top three players on the leaderboard after 36 holes of the Senior Open at the resort.
Jerry Kelly continues to lead the way at the championship, and Tim Petrovic, his teammate for three years at Hartford, is in third place, with Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez sandwiched in between.
“Yeah, I kind of know him,” a smiling Petrovic said of Kelly.
Asked if there were any good Jerry Kelly stories, Petrovic noted, “We’ve got plenty of those stories. But we better talk about golf today.”
OK, if you insist.
Kelly, the leading money winner on PGA Tour Champions this year, sat atop the leaderboard on Thursday night and didn’t move as the Senior Open moved to its halfway point. The 51-year-old has gone 66-69 for a 5-under-par 135 total at the East Course, good for a one-stroke lead over Jimenez and a two-shot margin over Petrovic.
It should be noted that Kelly and Jimenez played the first two rounds together and will do so again for Saturday’s third round (1:50 p.m. tee time).
“Always it’s nice when you play with people who are playing good,” said Jimenez, a five-time winner on PGA Tour Champions. “It’s like a transmit, you know.”
And, of course, the Hartford boys like to see each other do well. Both were relatively late bloomers to PGA Tour-level golf — Kelly first played a full schedule on Tour at age 28 and Petrovic at 34 — but they’re in contention now for arguably the top title in senior golf.
“He’s always been an extremely good player,” Kelly said of Petrovic. “It’s tough to make it out there. It’s easier to make it once you get out there than it is to get out there. It took me until I was 28. It just took him a hair longer. And then once he got there, he knew he could do it — especially after watching me.”
Kelly has won three times each on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, while Petrovic has claimed one PGA Tour title.
Kelly made four birdies, including via chip-in on the 18th hole (his ninth), and three bogeys on Friday. (He’s pictured above celebrating his chip-in in a USGA photo.)
Jimenez (below in a USGA photo) did something that’s proving very difficult — putting together a bogey-free round at The Broadmoor — to shoot a 68 and trail Kelly by one. He hit 17 greens in regulation on Friday.
Petrovic carded the low round of the championship so far — a 5-under-par 65 — to vault into third place at 137. The 51-year-old has had quite a journey in golf, to say the least.
“I always joke around: I say the book is coming out some day,” said Petrovic, who in the middle of his pro career sold cell phones, delivered pizzas and worked at the YMCA. “If I could tell you where I started, and to end up on the PGA Tour … To get out there and be able to have the career I did from here I came from, it’s pretty much an uphill climb. But I never gave up and I always kind of saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”
On Friday, Petrovic shot a 6-under-par 30 on his final nine (the front) and the only blemish on his card was a bogey on No. 13 (his fourth hole).
Among the five players who share fourth place at 1-under 139 is World Golf Hall of Famer Davis Love III, who is playing his first senior major this week. He’s only competed once since early May, but is still in contention after matching Jimenez’s bogey-free 68.
“I’m still a little jumpy and get a little quick every once in a while,” the 54-year-old said. “I hit some really, really good ones and then once in a while I’ll hit one that’s really bad.
“It’s a little bit of anxiousness. When you put USGA in front of an event, the nerves go up a little bit.”
One of the most unique rounds of the day from among the leaders came from Paul Goydos. Starting on the ninth hole, he went birdie, bogey, double bogey, par, birdie, eagle, birdie en route to a 67 and a 139 total. His eagle on the 418-yard, par-4 14th came via a 9-iron hole-out.
“Those are the scorecards that when you’re checking it to sign it, you check it 27 times because you’re not sure it’s right.”
Jobe Lone Local Player to Make Cut; Rohrbaugh, Johnson Miss By 2, Rohrbaugh Despite Spectacular Finish: Just one of the golfers with strong Colorado ties competing in the U.S. Senior Open will be around to play the weekend.
Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Brandt Jobe shot a 3-over-par 73 on Friday and shares 17th place at 3-over 143, trailing leader Jerry Kelly by eight.
The field was cut to 60 players after two rounds, and Colorado PGA members Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale and Chris Johnson of Castle Rock fell two shots shy of advancing to the weekend, both finishing at 10-over-par 150.
Rohrbaugh, the medalist in qualifying at The Broadmoor for this event, finished birdie-eagle to shoot a second-round 72, holing a 30-foot pitch on No. 9 for the eagle.
“You never want to miss the cut and I felt good going into this event, but (a finish like that) puts you in a much better mood, no doubt about it,” Rohrbaugh said.
Jobe, who shot 70 on Thursday, was 4 over par after five holes on Friday after running the gauntlet by starting on No. 10.
With tough pin placements — Jobe particularly wasn’t a fan of the one at the par-3 fourth — and gusting conditions, “I was hitting good shots and making bogeys,” Jobe said. “I couldn’t hit two better shots on 11 and still made bogey. It was just really difficult.”
But he played his final 13 holes in 1 under par to remain in the hunt. And don’t count Jobe out. After all, he shot a third-round 62 in this event a year ago.
“Today, I played well but didn’t get a lot out of my round,” he said. “It’s not perfect, but it’s good. So you never know. You shoot a 66 or 65, you’re back in the tournament. Jerry (Kelly) is 5 under. He’s going, ‘If I go out and shoot under par each day I win this golf tournament.’ But that’s not easy to do.
“There’s more pressure on (the leaders). I’ve got to kind of do what I did last year. I don’t know if a 62 is out there, but a good round will go a long way toward giving you a chance. If you get within five (going into the last round), you’ve got a chance.”
Johnson, the 2010 Colorado PGA Professional Champion playing in his first U.S. Senior Open, posted a second-round 76 on Friday.
“I struck the ball twice as good as I did yesterday (a 74),” he said. “I ended up three-putting three times on the front nine. That was really my undoing. You get those down in two and it’s a whole different game. You just can’t give away strokes on this golf course because they’re hard to get back.”
Rohrbaugh, the 2013 CoBank Colorado Senior Open champion, put on a big-time rally at the end of his round.
Wrapping up his day on the front nine, he hit it to 6 feet on No. 6 and to 5 feet on 7, though he missed both putts. He made a birdie from a foot on 8 and eagled 9 with the pitch-in.
“I’ll bet I had 15-plus friends and family out there watching,” he said. “My wife had all these hats made up with ‘One Putt’ on them — that’s my nickname. All my friends and family had them on, and they all flipped them backward as I’m walking down 6 (making them rally caps). So I flip mine on backward.
“I (later) thought, ‘Damn, we should have done that sooner.”
Also locally speaking, former University of Colorado golfer Mikael Hogberg and former Castle Pines resident Esteban Toledo — both at 156 — missed the cut, as did two-time champion and former Buff Hale Irwin (164)
Smoltz Improves By 8 Shots: Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz, who was mic’d for his first U.S. Senior Open, made some amusing comments during his two-day stay at the U.S. Senior Open.
“I feel like Mike Tyson has punched me here, here, here and here,” he said at one point.
But the former Cy Young Award winner got hit a little less on Friday than he did on Thursday. He followed up an 85 with a 77, leaving him at 22-over-par 162, 14 strokes above the 36-hole cut line.
“I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “I learned my game wasn’t ready” to compete at this level. … “It took too long for me to get comfortable.”
Smoltz made two birdies on Friday, including pitching in on No. 12.
“I told them in the (FS1 TV) booth that … I want to see that in between innings” of a baseball game he broadcasts on Fox.
Locals Lend a Hand: Among those helping with rulings and scoring on Friday were more than a handful of people with strong Colorado ties.
Included were former USGA Executive Committee members Jim Bunch and Christie Austin, who along with Bob Austin and Greg With were serving as referees for round 2. Among those handling the scoring areas off holes 9 and 18 were CGA executive director Ed Mate and Colorado-based former USGA regional affairs director Mark Passey.
And former CGA staffer Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s senior director of the Rules of Golf and amateur status, was a general Rules rover and is on the Rules Committee for the championship.
Notable: Due to Saturday’s weather forecast, FS1 shifted its U.S. Senior Open telecast window to 1-6 p.m., one hour earlier than originally schedule. Tee times for Saturday will run from 8:46 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. … Among the notable players to miss the 36-hole cut on Friday were World Golf Hall of Famers Mark O’Meara (149), Tom Kite (152) and Hale Irwin (164); Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz (162); plus Corey Pavin (149), Mark Calcavecchia (149) and Tom Lehman (150). … Three amateurs made the cut, with Jeff Wilson and Mike Finster being low ams so far, at 147. … Jay Haas, 64, made his 14th consecutive cut in the U.S. Senior Open and stands at 139, four out of the lead. … Friday’s scoring average was 75.28. Thursday’s was 75.78.
For all the scores from the U.S. Senior Open, CLICK HERE.
For Saturday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.
