Ernie Els turned back the clock with a round of 68 on Friday at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open to make the weekend in a share of 48th place.
The Big Easy, playing in his 437th PGA Tour event, hasn’t competed at TPC at Summerlin before, but he quickly learned the tricks after a first-round 70.
On Friday he started on the 10th and got the ball rolling around the turn with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 18th. He dropped shots at the first and third, but put sand over those divots with birdies at the sixth and ninth.
His round of 68 was enough to move 19 spots up the leaderboard and make the cut with a stroke to spare.
Rod Pampling also shot 68 on Friday, his for the sole lead on 14 under par after he shot 60 in the first round. Chasing hard was big hitter Brooks Koepka, who was sole second on 13 under par, followed by Aaron Wise in sole third a further stroke back.
‘Obviously I played really well yesterday, and it just had been solid. I didn’t panic,’ said Pampling. ‘I made a good one on I think it was our sixth hole for birdie and then made a great up-and-down on 16. That just kind of righted the ship, and then after that I was fine, and we played nice after that.’
