Darren Clarke and Thomas Bj\u00f8rn find themselves with a three-stroke advantage going into the third and final round of the PGA Tour Champions\u2019 American Family Insurance Championship at TPC Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
For the second day in succession, the former Ryder Cup partners teamed up to card a round in the 50s and they lead Steve Stricker and Mario Tiziani by three, while Steve Flesch and Paul Goydos, and Ernie Els and Tim Herron are one further adrift at -21.<\/p>\n
The duo, both former Ryder Cup captains as well as playing partners, had dovetailed nicely in the opening day\u2019s best ball format to card a 59 that was the lowest by two of the 38-team field, and they went one better in day two\u2019s scramble format, carding 11 birdies and one eagle for a -13 tally.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we obviously enjoyed it, we had a good day,\u201d said Clarke. \u201cOn the front, the first few holes I wasn\u2019t quite on it but Thomas hit some wonderful shots. We got together and things sort of clicked on the back nine for us. Overall, a good day.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the day, seven of the 38 teams recorded rounds in the 50s, with Stricker and Tiziani\u2019s 56 the low round of the day, and Bj\u00f8rn feels that it\u2019s very much down to having two attempts at each putt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it just kind of shows that we talk about a lot of things in the game of golf, putting especially,\u201d he said. \u201cReading greens is the biggest key to professional golfers. That\u2019s kind of what you have to go with. Those weeks where you\u2019re not putting very well is most often just because you don\u2019t see it on those greens. It\u2019s not so much down to the stroke or the strike, it really is down to the read.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you get this kind of format where you do see the reads, people are going to hole a lot of putts out here, and you see that in the scoring. This is not an easy golf course, and it\u2019s by no means what we play normally a short golf course, either, but the scoring is still extremely good just because people hole a lot more putts than they normally would because they see the read.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll play with Sticker and Tiziani in the final group, on the American pair\u2019s home course, and when it was put to Clarke that they\u2019d face a Ryder Cup-esque hostile crowd, he was enthusiastic about the prospect.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, brilliant,\u201d he replied with a grin. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent our whole careers playing in front of people. It gives us the buzz, it gives us the excitement of the whole thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd rightly so, the guys are from here, it\u2019s their golf course. We\u2019re just going to go out and do our thing and try and play as well as we have the first two days and see where that takes us when we finish the last hole tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to it,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to go out there with a chance to win any tournament, and then to go out there and have a chance to win tomorrow playing with Thomas in a team event, it\u2019s brilliant. That\u2019s what we practice for, that\u2019s what we play for. If it happens, great. If not, then so be it, we\u2019ve done our best.\u201d<\/p>\n