The beauty and absurdity of the game of golf is that anyone can string together a few good rounds and make a run at a major championship.
Such was the case Friday during the 2020 PGA Championship when 35-year-old Mike Lorenzo-Vera made a charge up the leaderboard at TPC Harding Park.
Lorezo-Vera started the day at 4-under-par, four shots back of leader Haotong Li. Starting on the back nine, Lorenzo-Vera carded two bogeys and two birdies to make the turn at even for the day. But he caught fire on the front nine, rattling off three straight birdies at Nos. 2, 3, and 4 to get to 7-under.
Born in Bayonne, France, Lorenzo-Vera has had an up-and-down professional golfing career.
Lorenzo-Vera has seven career professional wins, with five coming on the Alps Tour. His last win came in 2007 at the Oceanico Developments Pro-Am Challenge on the Challenge Tour.
Currently the No. 82 ranked player in the world, Lorenzo-Vera finished tied for 16th at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.
Lorenzo-Vera has played well on the European Tour over the last two years. He carded a third-place finish at the DP World Tour Championship in 2019 and tied for eighth at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic earlier this year.
An unknown to many in the U.S., Lorenzo-Vera has the chance to have a memorable weekend by the Bay at TPC Harding Park.
