Des Smyth will get two more rounds at Bellerive in Missouri. Archive picture: Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ieDes Smyth will go into today’s third round of the Senior US PGA Championship 10 shots behind Kentucky boys Russ Cochran and Kenny Perry.

The 60 year-old Drogheda veteran added a 72 to his opening 73 to make the cut with a stroke to spare on three over par at Bellerive Country Club in St Louis, Missouri. Scores

According to PGA.com, the leaders have played golf with each other since they were children:

Perry, 52, and Cochran, 54, matched each other pretty much shot-for-shot over the first two rounds with identical scores of 69-66 each day.

“It’s incredible,” said Perry when asked what it was like for two guys who played junior golf together to be tied for the lead in the Senior PGA Championship. “It really is. We got a huge gallery out there.

“Paducah, Kentucky, is not too far from here, it’s probably a three-hour drive at the most. I’ve actually got friends here from Franklin where I’m from, I only spent four years at Paducah, so I went to high school there only. But I know a lot of people there. And it is neat. It’s neat when you got a childhood. We’ve shared a lot of laughs and a lot of good times.”