Rinker-Amaral team holds two-shot lead at PGA Senior-Junior Champ'ship

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Lee Rinker of Jupiter, Florida, and Colin Amaral of Port St. Lucie, birdied the first three holes Thursday en route to a 7-under-par 65 on the Dye Course, to maintain their lead after the third round of the 56th  PGA Senior-Junior Championship presented by Premier Golf and GOLF ADVISOR.

 

Sparked by seven birdies in their bogey-free round Thursday, the team is 21-under par for the Championship. Heading into the final round on Friday on the Wanamaker Course, they carry a two-shot advantage over three teams of PGA Professionals. Rinker and Amaral led the field by one stroke entering today’s round. 

 

“We have ‘teamed’ it up pretty well,” said Rinker, the PGA Director of Golf at Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. “The first two days, I didn’t play that well but Colin played great. Today, I played well.” 

 

Rinker’s four birdies on the front nine set the tone.

 

“Lee knocked the flag down all day,” said Amaral, a wintertime Florida resident who is a PGA Professional at Metropolis Country Club in White Plains, New York. 

 

Frank Esposito and Brett Jones capitalized on an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole to record a 9-under-par 63 on the Dye Course and jumped into second place, along with James Mason of Dillard, Georgia, and Tim Weinhart of Alpharetta, Georgia; and opening-round leaders JC Anderson of O’Fallon, Missouri, and Rod Perry of Port Orange, Florida.

 

Warm weather and calm winds helped produce some impressive scores, including a 10-under-par 62 on the Ryder Course by Sonny Skinner of Sylvester, Georgia, and Rob McClellan of Butler, Pennsylvania, which tied Anderson-Perry’s first round on the Ryder for the low round of the Championship. Their 10-birdie round catapulted Skinner-McClellan 28 spots up the leaderboard, and they enter the final round tied for eighth place, five shots back.

 

Following  today’s round, the field was cut to the low 40 teams and ties for the final round. 

 

The PGA Senior-Junior Championship presented by Premier Golf and GOLF ADVISOR features 155 teams of PGA Professionals, with Seniors 50 and over, and Juniors 49 and younger. Teams rotate among the three courses at PGA Golf Club – Wanamaker, Ryder and Dye – during the 72-hole Championship. 

 

The estimated total purse is $100,000.