Cameron Percy will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open after a brilliant back nine of 33 in tough conditions at The Gleneagles Hotel.
The Australian entered day two with a one-shot advantage, but with wind adding to the firm and fast conditions, the King's Course was a much tougher proposition than it had been on Thursday.
On a day when nobody went bogey-free, Percy looked like he too could fall victim to the layout with bogeys on the fifth and eighth before a birdie on the ninth steadied the ship.
A chip-in on the 13th then sparked an excellent closing run and further gains on the 14th and last saw the 52-year-old card a 68 and get to nine under.
American Jerry Kelly matched Percy's lowest round of the day with a 68 to sit at six under, two shots clear of a pair of Open Champions in Ernie Els and Henrik Stenson and Austria's Markus Brier.
Percy has yet to claim a senior win since turning 50 in May 2024 but he has made all 81 of his cuts on the Champions Tour and in 2025 finished in the top ten at this event, the Senior PGA Championship and the US Senior Open.
You can't get much better than this to start the ISPS Handa Senior Open.
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) July 23, 2026
Cameron Percy leads by 2 after his first round. pic.twitter.com/j26bn2m36p
He now heads into the final 36 holes with a chance to break his duck and he revealed the difficult nature of the course and the conditions may be the key to his success.
"Obviously very happy," he said. "It's such a hard golf course. 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.
"Yesterday I hit it everywhere I was looking, so it was pretty easy. Today was way harder trying to judge how much the wind would hit stuff. I got it around okay. That was the difference, I think."
MIRACULOUS RECOVERY
After those dropped shots on the fifth and eighth, Percy put an approach to five feet at the ninth to turn in 35.
A deft, chasing chip-in on the 13th was then followed by an up-and-down on the driveable par-four next before a two-putt birdie on the par-five 18th put him in control.
Kelly birdied the second and while he dropped a shot at the seventh, he picked it straight back up on the next.
Another birdie came on the tenth and he once again made an instant recovery from a dropped shot on the 13th at the 14th.
Stenson turned in level par with the help of a miraculous recovery on the ninth but made a gain on the 15th before taking advantage of an enormous drive down the last in a 68 of his own.
Els was not at his brilliant best in a 71, but a drive to 10 feet on the 14th dragged him back into a share of third, while Brier carded a roller coaster 69 with an eagle, three birdies and four bogeys.
The top of the leaderboard at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open after round 1. pic.twitter.com/eESBjerafV
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) July 23, 2026
Frenchman Lionel Alexandre and American Matt Gogel were at three under, one ahead of 2023 Senior Open champion Alex Cejka, 1993 Ryder Cupper Peter Baker, South Africa's Darren Fichardt, Australian Michael Wright and American duo Taggart Ridings and Tom Penrice Jr, with just 16 players under par.
© europeantour.com