Gary Hallberg takes charge at The Senior Open Championship
Gary Hаllberg carded a sparkling seven-under par 63 to move three shоts clear of Tom Lehman and Bernhard Langer, after the second round of The Senior Open Champiоnship, presented by Rоlex, on Friday, July 27, 2012.
Hallberg, whose only win at the Champions Tour came in the 2010 Ensure Classic at Rock Barn, started off his round at the 49th position on the leaderboard.
However, the American stole a march on his opponents after recording eight birdies against a lone bogey.
It has been a remarkable comeback by the three-time PGA Tour winner, as he went five-over for the tournament through 13 holes in the opening round.
Yet, he managed to record birdies on four of the final five holes on Thursday. The second round also saw him open his account with a bogey on the second hole. However, he did not let the first round performance repeat itself on Friday.
According to him, he was playing good shots on the opening day too. However, for some unknown reason, he was not able to avoid the bogey putts.
Therefore, when he had a look at his scorecard at the end of the front nine, it gave him a thought of going aggressive at the course, which, in the end, helped him record some really good shots.
“When I was five over on the first day after nine holes I thought, I'm not playing that bad,” Hallberg reflected.
“I was playing good but I just couldn't get it going. So I hung in there and played a great back nine; I think the 40 helped me because it turned me around mentally to go play aggressively”.
“So I played aggressively today, had some great putts go in but I also missed some putts from around six, seven feet today but you can't make them all,” he added. “It was one of the great days that I've had in many years on the golf course. It was just
a pleasure”.
Meanwhile, Langer, the overnight leader, had to suffer a three-over par score, thanks to a triple bogey on the par-four 13th hole.
Despite been dragged down to the second place, he expressed his pleasure over being in contention while entering the weekend.
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