In what might be described as a minor miracle—or a well-timed caffeine surge—Lee Westwood has clawed his way back into contention at the Senior PGA Championship with the kind of dogged determination that made him a Ryder Cup legend.
After barely squeezing through the cut on Friday, the 51-year-old LIV Golf stalwart turned Moving Day into Grooving Day, carding a four-under-par 68 to plant himself one shot off the lead heading into Sunday’s final round.
It wasn’t all roses and fairways. Westwood opened his third round with a double bogey that had his Majesticks GC co-captaincy looking more honorary than heroic.
But then the switch flipped. The man poured in six birdies, including a final flourish on the 18th, immediately erasing the bitter taste of a bogey on 17—courtesy of a devilish lip-out that was millimetres from brilliance.
His 68 brought him to 4-under for the tournament, tied for fifth and trailing the lead by a single stroke. Westwood’s resurgence is a timely reminder that in the Senior PGA Championship, no one’s mailing it in—not when there’s still fight (and a few four-irons) left in the bag.
Meanwhile, defending champion Richard Bland looked like he was playing chess while the rest were flailing in the wind. Not spectacular, not tragic—just solid enough to keep himself in striking distance at 2-under.
Bland is currently tied for 12th, but only three back. “This one’s wide open,” he could almost be heard saying without actually saying it.
But let’s not forget Vijay Singh—who, at 62, still swings a club like it owes him money. After three bogeys out the gate on Friday, Singh caught fire with a 68 of his own.
Saturday, however, was a putting clinic for all the wrong reasons. Short miss here, lip-out there… if the hole had been any smaller, it would’ve been an email inbox.
Add to that the resurgence of Angel Cabrera, fresh off a major win at The Tradition just last week. Cabrera shares the lead with Retief Goosen, Fran Quinn’s caddie (kidding—it’s actually Timothy Caron), and Jeff Archer, the latter two apparently unaware they’re meant to be underdogs.
Still, the burly Argentine knows how to close on Sundays, and with conditions easing up—goodbye to Saturday’s 25mph wind tunnel—it’s shaping up to be a final round worth tuning in for.
Television coverage kicks off Sunday at 3:00 PM ET on NBC, with the final putts expected to drop around 6:00 PM. Keep an eye on Westwood and Bland—two Englishmen who’ve swapped tea for tenacity and are hunting their first wins of the 2025 season.
If you weren’t watching before, now’s the time. The Senior PGA Championship just got interesting.
