Bob Estes shot a 7-under 64 Thursday at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and is tied for the lead through 18 holes with Steven Alker.
His 64 matches his career-low round on the PGA Tour Champions.
Estes, who has one top-5 result so far this season, was bogey free.
“I love a clean card,” said Estes.
After starting on the back nine, he birdied his opening hole and added another on the par-4 16th. Estes heated up after making the turn, however, firing a sizzling 5-under 31 coming in.
Estes said he started driving the ball better on Thursday after making a “little adjustment” in his set up.
“Putting me in a good position for the most part. Take advantage of my iron game, which I’m usually pretty good at,” he said. “It’s a good course for me.”
Estes sits fourth on the PGA Tour Champions in Overall Putting Average. His putting prowess was also on display Thursday at Harbor Shores – it was as complete a day as he could have asked for.
“I think I made four good up-and-downs from just off the edge. Four good saves on the back nine, which was my first nine holes, and a couple of good saves on the front nine as well to keep (the card) clean,” said Estes.
He closed with a birdie on the lengthy par-5 9th to tie Alker for the 18-hole lead. Alker is the hottest golfer on PGA Tour Champions so far in 2022, with two victories already.
Two tied for the lead after 18 holes. @KitchenAid_Golf | #SrPGA pic.twitter.com/ylq0SOeNGJ
— KitchenAid Senior PGA Champ (@seniorpgachamp) May 27, 2022
Estes said he was struggling with allergies for the last three weeks and was still feeling it in his head and his nose heading into the week, but he was happy to report it got weaker as his round went on.
“I’ve been through a lot of boxes of Kleenex the last three weeks,” he said with a smile.
Estes won four times on the PGA Tour, including twice in 2001. He has three T6 finishes at the PGA Championship and two top-10 results at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in his career.
His best KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship was a tie for fifth, which came in his debut in 2017.
Estes missed the cut last year at Southern Hills Country Club.
