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During his downtime, although there’s not a ton of that during the grind of the golf season, you can often find Richard Green at the racetrack, tucked behind the wheel of his Porsche 991 GT3 Cup.

While his beloved car is currently in park, Green finds himself in the driver’s seat at the 2024 Rogers Charity Classic at Canyon Meadows G&CC in Calgary.

Heading into the final lap, the 53-year-old from Australia owns a one-stroke lead.

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He is shooting for his first PGA Tour Champions triumph. The chase pack is oh-so-close in his rearview mirror.

“It just so happens, the bunch of guys that I race with, they’re racing this weekend at Phillip Island in Australia,” Green said. “So I’m getting all their updates and their qualifying times and their race times, and my car is sitting in the shed. I need to get it out.”

Green will need to go full throttle again Sunday as the Rogers Charity Classic crowns its 10th champion.

He cruised Saturday to 8-under 62, sizzling to the top of the leaderboard with a two-round tally of 13-under.

The racing enthusiast is currently one stroke ahead of Steven Alker and Boo Weekley and two shots up on Jason Caron, Padraig Harrington and Ken Tanigawa.

“Looks like it will be a bit of a Bond fight tomorrow,” said Harrington, a three-time major champion and a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, with a wide smile. “You gotta go low. With so many guys up at the top of the leaderboard, it looks like it will take a 6- or 7-under-par by one of the leaders to get it done.”

Indeed, it’s going to be all gas and no brakes as the PGA Tour Champions sharpshooters aim for the white hat treatment — and the US$360,000 first-place payday — as Rogers Charity Classic champion.

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Green had only a couple of speed bumps Saturday, carding a bogey on the fifth hole and a double on No. 12. His scorecard also showed 11 birdies, including eight over a nine-hole stretch. Whoa.

“It’s my best round of golf,” he said afterward. “And it could have been even better.”

So does he have another gear for the final round?

Green isn’t exactly a household name, but he did earn three victories on what was previously known as the European Tour. He has been a two-time runner-up this season, which is why he sits fourth on the Charles Schwab Cup money list.

While Green doesn’t have the same credentials as a guy like Harrington or Darren Clarke, who is four off the pace, he does have some unique experience that he believes will be an asset Sunday as he tries to win what is shaping up to be a true grand prix.

Buckle up.

“I try to use what I’ve learned out of racing and the pressures that I’m under driving a race car at high speed to how I feel on the golf course under pressure,” Green said. “Golf is a little more fragile. It’s more organic, the movement. There are a lot of things that can go wrong through your mind. Whereas in a race car, it’s a commitment that is absolutely not negotiable. If you’re going to go through a corner at high speed, on the limit, you have to commit. So what I try to take out of my racing to tomorrow is to commit on every shot that I play, like I’m doing that.

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“We’ll see if it’s helping me or not, but I think it will. It’s a highly stressful situation to be in a race car, racing close with other people, and I’ve done that comfortably before. Hopefully, tomorrow it will help me.”

CHIP SHOTS: Sunday’s tee-times run from 10:14 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Green will play alongside Alker and Weekley in the final group … The 51-year-old Weekley, one of the true characters in the game of golf, is aiming for his first win on the senior circuit. “It would mean a lot,” he said, fighting back tears. “I got a lot going on with my family, so, yeah. I ain’t going on with it.” … Tanigawa matched the course record at Canyon Meadows with Saturday’s scorch of 9-under 61. His soon-to-be-on-display scorecard included an ace on No. 16, where the 56-year-old thumped a five-iron from 203 yards away. “Didn’t see it go in the hole,” he said. “But it was going right toward it and you hear all the hoopla up there, so you kind of have an idea it went in. Lucky enough, it did.” Tanigawa now shares the course record with Fred Couples (2014), Miguel Angel Jimenez (2015) and Michael Bradley (2019) … Calgary’s own Steve Blake, who has been supported by a throng of family, friends and complete strangers who are inspired by his determination to chase his dreams as he continues treatment for Stage 4 lung cancer, delighted the crowd Saturday with three birdies. He is at 13-over for the tournament.

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