Ernie Els stayed just in touch with the lead on Saturday when he carded a second round of two-under-par 69 to reach 36 holes in the PGA Tour Champions’ Ascension Charity Classic in seven-under-par.
He made five birdies and three bogeys to be in a share of seventh ahead of the final round. That was four behind leader Padraig Harrington, who followed his opening six-under 65 with a five-under 66 to lead Steve Stricker and Bernhard Langer by one. Harrington is looking like an increasingly dominant figure on the PGA Tour Champions.
Els picked up a birdie on the second hole of his round, but immediately handed that shot back with a bogey on the third. He picked up birdies on six and eight ahead of the turn and dropped back to level-par for the round with bogeys on 12 and 14. He recovered from that setback with consecutive birdies on 15 and 16.
David Frost had his second one-over 72 to move to two-over for the tournament and a share of 63rd.
