Cameron Percy Finds Control in Senior Open Chaos

ISPS HANDA Senior Open

Leaderboard After 36 Holes

Pos.

Player

Score

Rounds

1

Cameron Percy

-9

63-68

2

Jerry Kelly

-6

66-68

T3

Markus Brier

-4

67-69

T3

Ernie Els

-4

65-71

T3

Henrik Stenson

-4

68-68

Cut: 5-over 145. Seventy-nine players advanced.

Friday’s 68 Was Better Than the Number

Percy’s round was heading in the wrong direction after bogeys at the fifth and eighth holes. The opening-round leader had slipped backward while the wind, firm turf and severe slopes began collecting mistakes from nearly everyone in the field.

A birdie from 5 feet at the ninth steadied him. A chasing chip that found the hole at the 13th changed the round. Percy added another birdie at the driveable par-4 14th and took advantage of the par-5 18th to play the back nine in 33.

The score gains weight when placed next to the rest of the field. Only 16 players finished 36 holes under par. The cut fell at 5-over 145, with 79 of the original 144 players advancing. Defending champion Padraig Harrington reached the weekend at 2 over, while Charles Schwab Cup leader Stewart Cink finished at 3 over.

Percy was not immune to what the King’s Course was doing. He simply avoided allowing one strange bounce, one gust or one missed green to become the beginning of something larger.

“It’s such a hard golf course,” Percy said. “You’ve got to concentrate on every single shot. There’s no easy holes or anything. You can lose your ball on every shot. That’s what I like. It keeps me tuned in, if that makes sense.”

It makes perfect sense. Some players become frustrated when a course refuses to reward what felt like a good swing. Percy appears to be finding freedom in the fact that every player is being asked to live with a certain amount of uncertainty.

Friday at Gleneagles

Why Percy’s 68 Was Exceptional

74.105

Second-round scoring average

32 mph

Maximum reported wind gusts

0

Bogey-free rounds Friday

33

Percy’s back-nine score

Percy’s 2-under round matched the lowest score of the day and increased his lead from one stroke to three.

Percy Stopped Chasing Perfect

The most important change Percy made this week may have happened before the championship began.

He had been trying to aim toward the middle of the golf course, make a comfortable swing and hit the ball straight. The intention sounded safe, but it left him without a defined shot.

“I was trying to aim to the middle and swing it nicely and hit it straight, and instead I need a stock shot,” Percy said.

His solution has been a controlled draw. Percy described trying to swing approximately one degree to the right and allowing the ball to move back toward his target. The right-to-left wind occasionally exaggerated the curve Friday, but the shot has given him a clearer picture before he begins the swing.

That distinction matters, particularly under pressure. A player trying to hit the ball perfectly straight has very little room for variation. A player committed to a familiar curve knows the intended starting line, understands the expected movement and has a better idea of where the miss may finish.

Percy has replaced a vague desire to hit a good shot with a specific task.

The weekend will determine whether that simplicity holds when the tournament begins to feel close. Percy is making his 52nd PGA Tour Champions start and is still searching for his first victory. He has finished second or tied for second three times, including two playoff losses in 2025. His most recent individual professional victory came at the 2014 Price Cutter Charity Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour.

There is little doubt that Percy has the game to win at this level. The question has been whether he can keep playing it after the opportunity becomes impossible to ignore.

Jerry Kelly Is Comfortable in the Strange

Kelly is the closest player capable of forcing that question.

The 59-year-old matched Percy’s 68 to reach 6 under, two strokes ahead of Markus Brier, Ernie Els and Henrik Stenson. Kelly made four birdies against two bogeys, repeatedly recovering after the course pushed him out of position.

He compared playing the King’s Course to “playing golf on the moon,” where a golfer does not know what gravity will do to the ball or where it will land after striking one of the course’s slopes.

“It’s acceptance, and that’s normally not my game,” Kelly said. “But I brought it this week and I hope I continue to bring it because you’re going to be wrong, and it’s going to bounce in places that: ‘That was a good shot but ...’ No but. Just go get it done the next time.”

Kelly has 13 PGA Tour Champions victories and two senior major titles. He is not likely to become uncomfortable simply because the leaderboard tightens.

Els and Stenson are five behind Percy, but both understand how to handle a demanding Scottish test. Els is a two-time Open champion who can become the sixth player to win both The Open and the Senior Open. Stenson, the 2016 Open champion, is making only his third PGA Tour Champions appearance. Brier, meanwhile, has already exceeded his previous best position in 15 starts at this level simply by reaching the weekend tied for third.

The leaderboard has recognizable names, but Friday made reputation largely irrelevant. The golfers who advance will be the ones most willing to accept that a properly planned shot can still finish somewhere unexpected.

The Final 36 Ask a Different Question

The Final 36

What Cameron Percy Is Playing For

First PGA Tour Champions victory

Percy is making his 52nd start and has finished second or tied for second three times.

First senior major title

His best finishes are two ties for fifth, including the 2025 Senior Open.

An end to a 4,368-day drought

Percy’s last individual professional victory came in August 2014.

A different finish from the previous two

Percy has held or shared two previous 36-hole leads in senior majors, finishing seventh and tied for fifth.

Percy has been here before.

He shared the 36-hole lead at the 2025 Senior PGA Championship before finishing seventh. Earlier this month, he led the Kaulig Companies Championship at the halfway point before finishing tied for fifth.

This is his third 36-hole lead or co-lead in a senior major. He is 0-for-2 in the previous chances.

A victory Sunday would end a winless stretch of 4,368 days and make Percy the fifth first-time PGA Tour Champions winner of the season. He would also become the first wire-to-wire winner on the circuit in 2026 and the first at the Senior Open since Bernhard Langer dominated the championship in 2014.

Those numbers describe what is available. They do not tell Percy how to reach it.

The answer is probably closer to the stock draw he found in practice and the 70-yard wedge that the wind nearly stopped in midair. Choose the shot, accept what happens and begin again.

For two days at Gleneagles, Percy has done that better than anyone. The final two days will show whether he can continue doing it after the finish becomes visible.

PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on R.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.