Couples surges to top of leaderboard at SAS Championship

Round 2 play ends with a lot of traffic near the top

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

 

Peter Koutroumpis (@pksport)

editor@trianglesportsnet.com

CARY, NC – When they tee it up for the final round of the 2022 SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club on Sunday, it’s anyone’s tournament to win.

By the end of second-round play, Fred Couples rested atop the leaderboard along with Y.E. Yang at 8-under par overall.

First-round leader Rocco Mediate, Jerry Kelly, and Scott McCarron stood just a stroke behind at -7, while seven others were tied at 6-under.

Couples shot a second consecutive 68 while Yang birdied the par-5 17th to join him at the top. 

“I play so little that it’s very exciting to play well when I do and I love it,” Couples said afterwards.

“I mean, I didn’t think I would have any shot of playing great golf here and I got it around great for two days and I just need to do it one more day.”

A Couples set of notes

Couples has played the back nine in bogey-free 7-under and the front nine in 1-under so far.

Leading and/or co-leading for the 13th time entering the final round in a PGA TOUR Champions event, he holds an impressive 50% (6-for-12) conversion rate in producing victories.

With a win on Sunday, he would snap a winless streak of 5 years, 3 months, 21 days (or 1,939 days), dating back to the 2017 American Family Insurance Championship.

Sharing it

For Yang, posting a 2-under 70 on Saturday put him into the position to play alongside Couples and Jerry Kelly in the final group on Sunday, a first-time experience.

The 50-year-old seeks to win his first Tour title in his 22nd event of the season that includes three top-10 finishes – the best, second place at the Ascension Charity Classic.

Just keep plugging along

With very little room for error on a course he admittedly loves to play, Couples is in the position he wants to be amongst such a crowded group.

“Basically, when you’re a playing tournaments like this where the courses are hard and everyone’s 6, 7, 8 under, you have to shoot a really good round to win,” he said.

“Somebody will shoot 6-under tomorrow and probably get to 12-under, which makes me have to shoot another 68, which I’m very capable of doing and I feel good about myself. But, you know, I just got to keep plugging along.”

Notables: Mediate carded an even-par 72 and sits T3 at 7-under, along with Charles Schwab No. 4 Kelly and McCarron…Charles Schwab Cup leader Steven Alker shot the round of the day with 6-under 66 to move from T40 to T6 on the leaderboard…Six other players are T6, including two-time champion Bernhard Langer (2012, 2018), 2017 champion Colin Montgomerie, Charles Schwab No. 10 Steve Flesch, Jim Furyk, Paul Stankowski and Tom Gillis.

Triangle Sports Network: 401-323-8960 | @tsportsnet