Alex Cejka of Germany ascended to the top of the leaderboard at The Senior Open Championship despite carding a 3-over-par 74 on Saturday at Bridgend, Wales.
Cejka birdied his final hole during gusting winds to reside at even-par 213 at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club. He is seeking his third career major on the Champions Tour after emerging victorious at the 2021 Regions Tradition and 2021 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
Cejka holds a one-stroke lead over the quartet of Phillip Archer (71 on Saturday) of England, two-time Open Championship winner Padraig Harrington (71) of Ireland, former World No. 1 Vijay Singh (73) of Fiji and second-round leader Steven Alker (76) of New Zealand.
"I had three, four, five loose shots that cost me a bogey and that's bugging you," Cejka said. "It's not the wind or anything. You want to do a certain shot and you just don't pull it off and you end up in a really bad lie and it's tough to make an up-and-down. That was a bit frustrating. The wind? Everybody had to deal with it."
Nobody broke par on Saturday, marking the first round in which that has happened on either the PGA Tour or Champions Tour since the 2008 Open Championship. Harrington won that event.
Singh, who capped his round with a birdie on the 18th hole, is seeking his sixth career victory on the Champions Tour and second major. He won the 2018 Kaulig Companies Championship.
"This was hard," Singh said. "A links course is fine, but with winds like this, we don't normally play in winds like this, especially me. I haven't played in conditions like this for a long, long time. But was manageable. You had to control your ball. It wasn't easy. Putting was really difficult."
'ANY MAJOR IS SPECIAL'
Alker, who had a hole-in-one on the par-3 15th hole, is chasing his second major victory in the over-50 ranks. He won the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2022.
Jerry Kelly (71) and Greig Hutcheon (75) of Scotland are tied for sixth place at 2-over. Hutcheon plays on Europe's Legends Tour.
"I think for anybody, any major is special," Cejka said. "Winning two a couple of years ago, it was great. But we are here in Europe. I'd like to win in Europe too. That would be special."
Defending Senior Open champion Darren Clarke shot a 78 on Saturday and is in a tie for 32nd place at 7-over.
First-round leader Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain followed up a 76 on Friday with an 83 on Saturday to slip to 12-over for the tournament.
The tournament is the last of five majors on the senior schedule. The winner gets into The Open next year at Royal Troon.
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