Retief Goosen put himself right in the picture on Friday in the second round of the PGA Tour Champions Charles Schwab Cup Championship with his seven-under-par 67 vaulting him into a share of third in Phoenix, Arizona.
It was a bogey-free round for the two-time US Open champion, as he made three birdies on the front nine and four on the way home. That included two in a row on the 17th and 18th, and that little run on the closing holes put him at 10-under for the tournament, three shots off the lead which was held by the tour’s leading player heading into this final event, Steven Alker of New Zealand. Alker had a one-stroke lead over the second-placed Padraig Harrington, who, like Alker and Goosen, carded a seven-under 64 to move to 12-under.
Goosen shared third with Brian Gay of the United States, and they had a one-stroke advantage over Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and Stephen Alker of Canada.
Harrington needs to beat Alker if he has any chance of winning the Charles Schwab Cup as the leading player on the Tour. Goosen is projected to rise nine places to 10th should things stay the way they are.
