Canadian Stephen Ames shot an 8-under-par 64 and passed Rocco Mediate to take first place atop the leaderboard after two rounds of the Chubb Classic on Saturday in Naples, Fla.
Ames sits at 13 under, three shots ahead of first-round leader Mediate, who followed his 63 on Friday with a 71. Four players are four shots back in a tie for third, but they won’t have much time to make up ground in Sunday’s final round.
The final round has been reduced to nine holes due to inclement weather expected in southwestern Florida. Groups of three will all start on No. 1, with tee times running approximately 7:15-11:15 a.m.
Ames posted nine birdies — including four straight on Nos. 5-8 — against one bogey to put himself into prime position to secure his seventh win on the Champions Tour.
“I hit the ball a little bit more consistent than I did yesterday. I think I hit two bad drives yesterday that didn’t cost me but I got away with,” Ames said. “Today was a little indifferent because of the fact that the wind was actually blowing a lot harder than it was yesterday. That made it a little bit more interesting, shall we say. Overall I hit the ball extremely nice. … Putting was extremely nice, but it was something that actually saved my round.”
Mediate had a chaotic round, including a double-bogey on the par-4 13th. He finished with five birdies — four on the back nine — and two bogeys.
“I didn’t have any feel for the greens,” he said. “They felt so slow. I didn’t hit them long enough. Not that I would have made 100 birdies, but I had some opportunities.
“I hung in there. Kind of lost it a little bit, and then just slowly regained it, and all of a sudden, boom, it turned out good so far.”
Mediate said he played as if the weather would prevent them from playing at all on Sunday.
“I think we all played like that’s it, today is it. It very well might be,” he said. “The nine holes tomorrow is kind of cool actually. … But the weather is supposed to just get, as you guys know, no good. But we’ll do what they’re going to do.”
David Duval withdrew prior to Round 2; John Daly withdrew during the round.
–Field Level Media