Cameron Percy of Australia had only one birdie over his last five holes and still matched his best score on the PGA Tour, a 10-under 62 that gave him a two-shot lead in the World-Wide Technology Championship.
Percy holed a 70-yard wedge for eagle on the sixth hole and made just about everything he looked at to reach 9 under through 13 holes, with two reachable par 5s still to play.
But he three-putted from just short of the green on the 14th and the putts he had been making stopped going in. He holed a 15-foot putt on the par-5 closing hole at El Cardonal at Diamante to match the score he shot in Las Vegas in 2010.
“I couldn’t make ‘em all,” Percy said with a grin.
He led by two over Camilo Villegas and Michael Kim, who both played in the morning, and Nat Lashley and Tano Goya, who played in the afternoon. Scoring conditions were ideal all day with wide fairways, smooth greens and wind that was more refreshing than it was a menace. Getting just as much attention as the players was Tiger Woods, who designed El Cardonal, his first course used for a PGA Tour event. Woods always enjoyed a course where par was no picnic and players faced options. The lack of wind made birdies a must to keep pace. The average score was 69.5 as more than half the 132-man field shots in the 60s. Play was suspended by darkness with 10 players unable to finish. Percy turns 50 next May and plans to go to Q-school for the PGA Tour Champions. Ideally, he would keep playing kids half his age, and a start like this had him going in that direction. Percy, who has never won on the PGA Tour, is at No. 152 in the FedEx Cup. The top 125 keep full status for 2024. The top 150 would have conditional status, which would lead to a full schedule considering the $20 million signature events for the leading players.
“Finishing top 150 at my age would be fantastic,” Percy said. “I want to at least do that, but if I can keep the ball rolling like I did today, I should be able to finish a lot higher than that, and then lead into Q-School with the Champions Tour. Yeah, I’m looking forward to that.”
