Three PGA Professionals within five of lead

Three PGA Professionals within five of lead











PGA.COM May 24, 2013 10:43 PM


By Bob Denney, The PGA of America

TOWN & COUNTRY, Mo. - PGA club professionals Jeff Coston, Mark Mielke and Sonny Skinner took varying routes over feisty Bellerive Country Club Friday to keep their rounds intact and find themselves within five strokes of the lead following the second round of the 74th Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid.

The trio was part of a 10-player logjam in eighth place, at 2-under-par 140, on a mild day that appeared ripe for scoring in the most historic and prestigious event in senior golf. Overall, five PGA club professionals from a 42-player delegation made the 36-hole cut of 4-over-par 146.

Coston, a 57-year-old PGA teaching professional at Semiahmoo Golf Resort in Blaine, Wash., made his sixth appearance in the Championship and turned in a 2-under-par 69. He flashed some of the form he displayed in 2007, when he tied for 19th at The Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C. But this time, he said, things were different.

"It's different, totally different. I'm in better shape, "said Coston, who made his third cut in the Championship. "It is not the same. Golf is not the same; you know what I mean? I am just enjoying the experience and playing golf; nothing bigger than that." Coston collected five birdies to offset three bogeys.

"I have played in this Championship regularly, and it's really nice of The PGA of America that they give us a chance, for club professionals to play in this tournament," Coston said. "I played the tour and I have had my golf academy up at Semiahmoo for 19 years now. So, I haven't played full-time in 19 years, but it's fun to get the opportunity to test yourself."

Sonny Skinner of Sylvester, Ga., the reigning Senior PGA Professional Player of the Year, who opened the Championship Thursday with a sterling 67, struggled to hold his round together. He came in with a 73, a scrambling round that featured three of his four bogeys on the back nine to go with birdies on the fifth and 17th holes.


"I'm just scrambling too much," said a visibly frustrated Skinner, 52, the PGA head professional at River Pointe Golf Club in Albany, Ga. "I'm not hitting the ball as well as I would like, and didn't putt as well. I'm a little disappointed today. I felt like I could possibly get it going a little better. I just ran out of steam on the back nine."

Mielke, the 50-year-old PGA head professional at Mill River Club in Oyster Bay, N.Y., turned in a five-birdie/five-bogey 71 in his debut appearance.

"It is awesome to be in contention on a weekend," said Mielke. "It's great! It's something that you don't come here saying, 'Hey, I would like to make the cut.' And then you get up the board, and you say, 'Hey, I want to play better than making the cut. So, it's real exciting. But it's a thrill for a club professional to be hanging with these guys."

Rounding out the five PGA club professionals making the weekend's 36-hole finale were Championship rookies Don Berry of Rogers, Minn., who had a 69 to land at 141; and St. Louis native Bob Gaus, who came in with a 74 for 145.

Berry, the PGA head professional at Edinburgh USA Golf Club in Brooklyn Park, Minn., overcame a slow start. Beginning play on the back nine, Berry bogeyed the 10th and 12th holes before hitting his approach to the 18th green within a foot of the hole. That sparked him to finish 3 under par the rest of the way.

"I love the course, it fits my eye," said Berry. "Yesterday, I played well but didn't get a whole lot out of the round. Today, I worked hard but ended up with a better finish. It's really cool to be here and see the great players in the locker room. I got to play a practice round with U.S. Open champions Tom Kite and Andy North. That was a lot of fun."

Gaus, 52, the PGA teaching professional at Tower Tee Golf Center in St. Louis, had the most experience at Bellerive among those making the cut. He used that course knowledge to his advantage.

"I played really well the whole way, both days, didn't do anything stupid, no double bogeys," said Gaus. "I felt pretty comfortable for once in one of these things. So we'll see what happens."

By the numbers: Second round

By the numbers: Second round











PGA.COM May 24, 2013 11:31 PM

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Jay Haas is one of only two past champions in the top 10 after 36 holes. (Montana Pritchard/The PGA …


By T.J. Auclair, PGA.com Interactive Producer

80: The number of players that made the cut in the 74th Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid, which fell at 4-over-par 146.

5: The number of PGA Club Professionals -- out of the 40 who started on Thursday -- to make the 36-hole cut. Those players are: Jeff Coston (2 under), Mark Mielke (2 under), Sonny Skinner (2 under), Don Berry (1 under) and Bob Gaus (3 over).

2: The number of past Senior PGA Champions (Jay Haas,Tom Watson) who are in the top 10 through 36 holes. Haas is currently tied for fourth at 4 under and Watson is tied for eighth at 2 under.

3.561: The scoring average on the 213-yard, par-3 sixth hole Friday, which played as the most difficult in Round 2.


3.574: The scoring average on the 248-yard, par-4 11th hole Friday, which played as the easiest in Round 2.

66: Or, 5 under par, the lowest score recorded in Friday's second round by both Kenny Perry and fellow Kentuckian Russ Cochran.

87: The number of spots Scott Hoch and Bob Tway moved up the leaderboard in Round 2, the biggest moves of the day. Hoch fired a 4-under 67 and went from a tie for 124th after Thursday's first round to a tie for 37th. Tway had the identical impressive turnaround.

104: Number of spots Larry Mize dropped on the leaderboard Friday after his second-round 82.

12: The difference in number of strokes between Bernhard Langer's opening round of 8-over-par 79 and second round of 4-under 67. The bounceback was remarkable for the man who has been the best player on the Champions Tour in 2013, and was just enough to make the cut on the number at 4 over.

0: The number of Champions Tour events and major championships that PGA Club Professional Bud Lintelman had played in before getting into the field this week as an alternate. Lintelman got his spot when Steve Elkington withdrew due to a migraine. Though he missed the cut, Lintelman will never forget this week -- with Elkington's withdrawal, Lintelman was paired with Tom Watson and Peter Jacobsen for the first two rounds.

Perry and Cochran thrive on Kentucky comfort

Perry and Cochran thrive on Kentucky comfort











PGA.COM May 25, 2013 3:38 PM

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"It's incredible," said Kenny Perry when asked what it was like for two guys who played junior golf …


By T.J. Auclair, PGA.com Interactive Producer

ST. LOUIS - Kenny Perry and Russ Cochran have known each other and played golf together since they were kids growing up in Kentucky.

Decades later, the pair who count one another as great friends, share the halfway lead at 7-under 135 in the 74th Senior PGA Championship presented KitchenAid after playing the first two rounds in the same group along with Dan Forsman.

The duo is two shots clear of Kiyoshi Murota and three ahead of Duffy Waldorf, Jay Haas and Loren Roberts.

The outstanding play shouldn't come as much of a surprise when you consider the comfort-level between Perry and Cochran, which might be second only to the Bryant brothers - Bart and Brad - of the players in the field at Bellerive.

Perry, 52, and Cochran, 54, matched each other pretty much shot-for-shot over the first two rounds with identical scores of 69-66 each day.

"It's incredible," said Perry when asked what it was like for two guys who played junior golf together to be tied for the lead in the Senior PGA Championship. "It really is. We got a huge gallery out there. Paducah, Kentucky, is not too far from here, it's probably a three-hour drive at the most. I've actually got friends here from Franklin where I'm from, I only spent four years at Paducah, so I went to high school there only. But I know a lot of people there. And it is neat. It's neat when you got a childhood. We've shared a lot of laughs and a lot of good times."

Perry said that since Cochran is a few years older, he was always the player that Perry worked hard to emulate.

"Russ is kind of the guy I always looked up to," Perry said. "I was a freshman at Lone Oak High School when he was a junior there at St. Mary's there in Paducah, Kentucky. Russell was the man. He was the guy that ... he was the big guy on campus as you would say. And he was one of the big reasons why I got as good as I did. I got better, because I tried to aspire to be a lot like Russ."

Cochran, on the other hand, said it was incredible to watch Perry grow. Like so many in their teenage years, Perry had quite a growth spurt from when Cochran went away for college to just a few years later when he saw Perry again at a college event.


"I got to see all that progression and he kind of turned my head a little bit, to be honest, because when I left him, he was a sophomore to be I guess in high school and then the next time I saw him I think was at a college event in West Virginia maybe or somewhere, Virginia yeah, and he walked across the green and he looks like he does now," Cochran said. "Six-two and a man."

To say Perry blossomed would be an understatement. Over the course of his PGA Tour career, where he still plays part-time, Perry racked up 14 total victories. He was a member of the last U.S.-winning Ryder Cup team at Valhalla in his home state of Kentucky, which is also the place where he lost a playoff in the 1996 PGA Championship. And since joining the Champions Tour in 2010, Perry has two wins.

As the weather gets warmer, it also seems to be the time of year that Perry plays better. On the PGA Tour, the Colonial or the Memorial have always been held right around Memorial Day weekend. Perry won the Colonial twice and the Memorial three times.

"I always played better in the summer in the heat and humidity, which we didn't really have today," said Perry. "I wore my sweater all day today. We had a north wind yesterday, so it's been a funny spring. But in the pro-am, it was very warm and humid and hot. So hopefully it will work its way back in that direction. I always played better in the heat. Colonial I played great, yeah, I've always enjoyed the heat. I like to sweat a little bit out there."

Cochran, meanwhile, had one win on the PGA Tour in a career that was interrupted by a wrist injury. He's made up for some lost time on the Champions Tour with three victories thus far.

As if their roots and friendship weren't enough to make Perry and Cochran as comfortable as can be on the course together, the way they hit shots is very similar.

Perry, a right-hander, loves to hit a draw. Cochran, a left-hander, likes to hit a fade. Since they stand on opposite sides of the ball, the shot shapes are nearly identical.

"It's funny, I hit a hook and he hits a fade, so our balls are curving the same direction all day too," Perry said. "So we're looking at the same golf shot. And we hit it about the same distance. Our irons are about the same. It's just a matter of who gets the putter hot."

The way things are looking at Bellerive, it seems as though the Kentucky State Championship is breaking out in St. Louis, Mo.

And if that continues over the weekend, you can bet Cochran will be trying like heck to win... but he'll also be pulling hard for his buddy.

"I'm the kind of guy that I'm going to pull for Kenny," Cochran said. "I know Kenny wants to play as hard as he can. And I like to play as hard as I can. But I truthfully do pull for Kenny. And I always have."