Montgomerie finishes at top of leaderboard with eight birdies

KA‘UPULEHU, Hawaii >>

The leaderboard at Friday’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai resembled a horse race — a lot of jockeying for position.

There were a half-dozen golfers who either had or shared the lead on this perfect Friday afternoon at the Jack Nicklaus-designed course before Colin Montgomerie emerged as the 36-hole leader with a 7-under 65.

His two-day total of 14-under 130 left him two shots clear of first-round leaders Jerry Kelly (68—132) and Gene Sauers (68—132) entering today’s final round of this winners-only event that begins the year for the PGA Tour Champions.

Montgomerie drove the ball well and putted even better, with eight birdies and a lone bogey at the par-4 ninth to break away from the pack. He birdied four of the final six, just missing one at the last that would have given him an even bigger cushion.

Since beginning this tournament on Thursday at 1 over through the first five holes, Montgomerie is 15 under over the last 31. He knows in a 54-hole event it is a sprint rather than a marathon. You might be able to card a round in the 70s in a 72-hole event and still win.

But not here. Only once since this tournament moved here 21 years ago has someone won it with a round in the 70s and that was the first one in 1997, when the wind howled all three days. Hale Irwin turned that trick with a 73 in the first round, but his winning score was only 7 under par.

Montgomerie has gone 7 under twice in two days. He knows he has to go low again today in order to be hoisting the trophy at day’s end.

“Oh, very much,” Montgomerie said in rapid succession. “Three rounds is a real sprint. You know, normally my game has been based on the majors, which are four rounds; four-round tournaments you can pace yourself. You can allow yourself a 70, 71 in a four-round event. Three-round events, you can’t. You get rolled over.”

As well as he has played, it’s not as if he’s all alone. Sauers and Kelly didn’t have the same stuff they had on Thursday en route to shooting a pair of 64s, but they scored well enough to be in the final pairing with the 54-year-old Scot.

Sauers had a steadier round than Kelly, going bogey free for the second consecutive day. He went 3 under on the front thanks in part to an eagle at the par-5 seventh and then 1 under on the back, with his lone birdie coming at the par-3 11th.

“It was kind of a boring round,” Sauers said. “I made eagle on seven, so that kind of sparked me a little bit. I think my putting kind of left me on the back nine, but I’m still in it and right there, so just hope they will fall (today).”

Kelly countered with an even score on the front that included a bogey at the ninth for the second straight day. But he knew his best nine was in front of him. He birdied six of nine on the back on Thursday and four of nine on that same side Friday.

“I was like, all right, just be patient,” Kelly said of making the turn. “Don’t worry about it, the putts will start dropping. I was hitting it well enough that I should have had all these opportunities, but the ball was bouncing out a little bit more. I just didn’t get it as close.

“You know, all the putts that dropped (Thursday) didn’t drop (Friday). Sometimes it’s tough when you’re expecting to see them go in just like they did the day before. I was just short and burning edges. It was good putting again. They just didn’t go in.”

David Toms is also in the chase today. He is alone in fourth at 11 under for the event after shooting a solid 66 to find himself three shots off the lead. Toms hasn’t decided if he will play any PGA Tour events this year, although he plans to keep the Sony Open in Hawaii in his future.

“It’s a tournament that I’m pretty fond of and I won before,” Toms said. “This year I decided just to come here a few days early and I relaxed rather than getting into competition a week before. I wasn’t able to play much golf at home, the weather’s bad, so I just wanted to come up here and practice and play this golf course and get ready for this event.”