Miguel Ángel Jiménez (-2) has issued an early warning this Friday in the second round of the Senior PGA Championship, the second consecutive Major on the PGA Tour Champions calendar, held at the Blue course of Congressional in Washington. The golfer from Malaga handed in a scorecard of 70 strokes to climb nearly 20 places in the standings and get right into the fight for the tournament. And that’s despite the fact that the day didn’t start in the best way…
Jiménez started with a double bogey on the first hole of the day. A setback that significantly distanced him from the tournament lead. Not only was he saying goodbye to a possible victory, but he also had to keep an eye on the cut to avoid getting into trouble. However, his response was extraordinary. His score over the remaining 17 holes was four under par, one of the best scores of the day on a demanding Congressional. There were four birdies on holes 5, 7, 14, and 16.
As it stands, Miguel, leader of the Champions ranking, has positioned himself in 16th place, two strokes from the top 10 and four from the lead, an insignificant difference with 36 holes to go. The truth is that the standings are very tight, with 30 players separated by only six strokes.
The leaders are Vijay Singh, Cameron Percy, and Y.E. Yang, all with a total of six under par. Two strokes behind is a good handful of players, including Thomas Bjorn, Soren Kjeldsen, Padraig Harrington, and Robert Karlsson. Also in the upper area is Richard Bland (-3), defending champion, as well as Ángel Cabrera (-3), winner last week of the Regions Tradition.
On the downside, the bad news was the missed cut by José María Olazábal (+5). The golfer from Fuenterrabía fought until the last breath. A bogey on the 18th hole left him just out of the weekend. Today he handed in a scorecard of 74 strokes. The cut was set at +4.
