Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke close strong, maintain lead at TPC Wisconsin

The team of Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke stayed on the attack at TPC Wisconsin on Saturday, reaching 25-under par after two rounds of the American Family Insurance Championship in Madison, Wis.

Playing a scramble format in the second round, where each team chooses the best shot of the two players and each one hits their next shot from there, the Bjorn-Clarke duo delivered five birdies on the front nine before taking charge on the back.

Clarke, of Northern Ireland, and Bjorn, of Denmark, were under par on seven of the final nine holes, including an eagle 3 at the par-5 11th hole. The 13-under 58 came after a 12-under 59 in the first round Friday.

“In the end, it seemed like the hole was the size of a bucket, and you get like that, but you also know that a night’s sleep, you can wake up and it can seem like very small tomorrow,” Bjorn said. “That’s the way golf goes. But today … we probably felt like we did when we were 28, hitting those kind of golf shots.”

Clarke was particularly impressive on the day, delivering three birdies on the front nine and going 7-under by himself on the back. Both players birdied the last four holes.

“It’s really exciting to go out there with a chance to win any tournament, and then to go out there and have a chance to win tomorrow playing with Thomas in a team event, it’s brilliant,” Clarke said. “That’s what we practice for, that’s what we play for. If it happens, great. If not, then so be it, we’ve done our best.”

Steve Stricker and Mario Tiziani moved into second place at 22 under with the low round of the day at 15-under 56. They combined to shoot a 28 on both sides, with each recording an eagle 3 at the par-5 seventh hole.

Stricker and Tiziani had a birdie or better on 11 of the final 13 holes.

“We were in position every hole to make birdies,” Tiziani said. “I can’t really think of one we were not. Maybe 17, I guess. But other than that, yeah, we were in position. We just ham-and-egged it, we really did. I guess that’s what you have to do.”

A tie for third place at 21 under included the teams of Steve Flesch and Paul Goydos, as well as Ernie Els of South Africa and Tim Herron.

Flesch and Goydos climbed into third with a 14-under 57, while Els and Herron combined to shoot 59.

“We just played a lot of good golf today,” Flesch said. “Paul hit a lot of good iron shots, I hit a lot of good iron shots. I made a lot of putts today, Paul made a couple great putts that I don’t know if we really expected to make.”

Two other sub-60 rounds were delivered by Cameron Percy and David Bransdon (59), both of Australia, and Bernhard Langer of Germany and Steven Alker of New Zealand (57).

Percy and Bransdon moved into fifth place at 20 under, while Langer and Alker were tied for sixth at 19 under with Richard Green and Mark Hensby of Australia.

The field will return to the best ball format, used in Friday’s first round, for Sunday’s final round.

–Field Level Media