Round 2 Notebook: Allianz Championship

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Weather: Mostly cloudy with isolated showers early in the day before becoming partly sunny and windy in the afternoon. Highs reached the mid-60s with winds from the N/NE at 10-20 mph with some gusts to 25 mph in the afternoon. The course received one-quarter inch of rain in the early morning.

• Current Leaderboard: 1 -- Peter Senior (133/-11); T2 -- Tom Lehman and Rod Spittle (134/-10); T4 -- Russ Cochran, Hale Irwin and Mike Reid (136/-8); T7 -- Keith Fergus, Larry Mize, Jeff Sluman and Jay Don Blake (137/-7).

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Column: Irwin's resurgence

• Australian Peter Senior's two-putt birdie from 20 feet on his final hole was enough to give him a one-stroke advantage over Tom Lehman and Rod Spittle after 36 holes. Senior followed his 6-under-par 66 on Friday with a 5-under-par 67 today. Hale Irwin, Russ Cochran and Mike Reid trail by three strokes.

• This marks the first time Senior has held sole possession of the lead in a Champions Tour event heading into the final round. His previous best showing going into the final round was a solo third place at last year's Regions Charity Classic.

• The Champions Tour could possibly have a fourth consecutive winner from Ohio State should Spittle prevail on Sunday. Spittle won the last full-field event in 2010 (AT&T Championship) while one of his former college teammates, John Cook, won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship to close the 2010 season as well as the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

• Veteran Hale Irwin, the all-time leader in Champions Tour victories with 45, is just three strokes behind Senior. If Irwin would win, he'd be the oldest champion in Champions Tour history at 65 years, 8 months, 10 days. Mike Fetchick holds the current mark at 63 years to the day (1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational). Irwin has hit a remarkable 35 of 36 Greens in Regulation in the first two rounds to lead in that category along with Tom Lehman. Irwin is also second in Driving Accuracy behind John Cook (89.29%) at 85.71% (24 of 28).

• Hale Irwin's last victory came at the 2007 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. He has won three times since turning 60 in 2005.

• The winner of this tournament will receive 270 points in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race. John Cook currently leads with 305 points followed by Tom Lehman with 184 points.

• Russ Cochran played his way back into contention on Saturday, shooting a 5-under-par 67. He had started the day T22 after an opening-round 69. He is currently T4.

• With much more difficult weather conditions on Saturday (cooler and windier), the scoring average jumped from 70.741 on Friday to 72.425 on Saturday. While there were 30 rounds in the 60s in the opening round, only 12 players posted rounds in the 60s on Saturday.

• Saturday's scoring average of 72.425 was the highest ever for a round at this tournament. The previous high was 72.282 in 2008.

• Hole No. 9 was the most difficult on Saturday with an average score of 4.350 (+.350). There were just seven birdies. The easiest hole was No. 18 for the second straight day. Saturday's scoring average was 4.613 (-.387). It averaged 4.494 a day earlier. Last year No. 18 was the easiest finishing hole on the Champions Tour.

• Hole No. 17 yielded just two birdies on Saturday and was the second most difficult hole. Nick Price and Gil Morgan made the birdies.

• After an opening-round 8-under-par 64, Jay Don Blake posted a 1-over-par 73 on Saturday, but still remains with four strokes of the lead with one round to play.

• In the brief history of the Allianz Championship, the player(s) who has led or been tied for the lead after 36 holes has only won the tournament once and that was Mark James at the inaugural event in 2007. No first-round leaders have ever won. In 2007, James was in second place after Round 1 and tied for the second-round lead with Jay Haas and Craig Stadler. In 2008, Scott Hoch, the eventual champion, was T3 after Round 1 and second after the second round, one stroke back of Jerry Pate. In 2009, Mike Goodes was T4 after play on Friday and T3 after the second round, one stroke back of Tom Jenkins and Gil Morgan. Last year, Bernhard Langer was T10 after the opening round, three behind Haas and Jenkins, and was T3 after 36 holes, one behind Tommy Armour III and Tim Simpson.