Atwal will survive cut in senior PGA Championships, Jeev to miss out

Benton Harbor (Michigan), May 25 (PTI) India’s Arjun Atwal will survive the 36-hole cut at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship despite a closing double bogey in a second round of 4-over 75 after a first round 69.

However, fellow Indian Jeev Milkha Singh had a disappointing second day with a 79 following his 69. Jeev will miss the cut.

England’s Richard Bland, playing his first event for Over 50s, shot 5-under 66 on Friday and took a one-shot lead over recent Champions Tour winner Scott Dunlap (65) into the weekend at Harbor Shores.

Atwal, India’s only winner on the PGA Tour, opened with a bogey and ended with a double but in between birdied third and the 15th and dropped shots on the eighth, 11th and the 13th.

This is his second season on the Champions Tour and in 2023 he had seven starts with one Top-10 and in 2024 he has made the cut in each of his three starts before this week.

Starting from the 10th, Jeev had five birdies and two doubles on the Par-5 15th and Par-4 17th, sixth and eighth holes. His only birdie of the day came late in the round on the eight, his 17th hole of the day.

The 51-year-old Bland, who won his first DP World title of his career (2021 British Masters), made six birdies against a lone bogey to get to 12-under 130 at Harbor Shores.

He and Dunlap were the only two players in the field to get to double-digits under par on a day when rain interrupted play for about 90 minutes shortly after the afternoon groups were all on the golf course. Two players were yet to complete their second round.

Bland was being chased by Dunlap, 60, who two weeks ago won the rain-shortened Insperity Invitational in Houston, his first victory in a decade.

Others are Chris DiMarco (65) and Brian Gay (67), each seeking a first win on PGA Tour Champions and Ernie Els, who leaped into the mix with a 64, tying the week’s best round.

The cut is expected to fall at 3-over 145.