Jim Rutledge extends lead at Mr. Lube PGA Seniors’ Championship of Canada

The Victoria native’s second straight 7-under par 65 at Emerald Hills Golf Club in Stouffville, Ont., vaults him to 14 under for the tournament, 10 shots ahead of Daniel Talbot, who sits at 4 under after a second round 69.

Rutledge’s impressive bogey-free second round saw him convert 7 birdies, including a stretch of four over five holes on the back nine.

“I’m happy with the back nine,” the Champions Tour player says. “I missed a couple greens at Nos. 10 and 11 but managed to get up and down for par but after that—it was a good round of golf.”

Two years ago at Rattlesnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ont., Rutledge captured his first PGA Seniors’ Championship of Canada in fine fashion, finishing the 54-hole tournament at 17 under. He says his goal this year at Emerald Hills was to better his three-day total from 2010

“My goal was to improve upon my score from a couple of years ago and I’ve been working towards that,” Rutledge says.

Talbot, who sits 10-shots back of Rutledge, admits that while he hasn’t been playing his best this season, his game is starting to round into form this week.

“I haven’t been playing all that good since the beginning of the season, but I kind of found something out here that I’ve been looking for,” Talbot says. ““It’s the type of golf course that makes you think. You stand on the tee and you’ve got to think whether you’re going to hook it hard or cut it into the centre,”

Yvan Beauchemin and Norm Jarvis are tied for third at 3 under, while David Wettlaufer and Serge Thivierge sit at 2 under, T5. David Barr and Gar Hamilton are tied for seventh, with Jean Laforce alone in ninth. John Rushnell, Scott Allred and Philip Jonas are tied for 10th.

Jarvis who just turned 60-years old this past January captured the Super Seniors division, bettering Barr and Hamilton by four shots. The 1988 PGA Club Professional Championship of Canada winner says he didn’t really have any specific goals entering this week’s championship

“For me, I just come out, play and I don’t really set any real goals,” Jarvis says. “I didn’t even know who was in the field, but I knew I could play with everybody in the super seniors.”

Friday’s final round tee times of the Mr. Lube PGA Championship of Canada presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon begin at 7:30 a.m., with the final group of Rutledge, Talbot and Beauchemin at 11:30 a.m.

The PGA Seniors’ Championship of Canada was first played in 1938 as a division of the Canadian PGA Championship. In 1973, the Seniors’ Championship became an independent event and has stayed that way ever since. Among the Canadian golf legends to win this championship are Stan Leonard, Moe Norman, Bob Panasik and Al Balding. Norman won this championship a record seven straight years from 1979 to 1985, while Balding stunned the golf world by winning the championship at age 76 in 2000.

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