Round 2 Notebook: Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am

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Weather: Mostly sunny with high temperatures in the mid-80s and winds from the SW at 10-20 mph with gusts to 25 mph.

• John Cook posted the low round of the day by two strokes, a 6-under-par 65, and will begin Sunday's final round with a one-stroke advantage over first-round leader Russ Cochran. Cook has a 36-hole total of 11-under-par 131. The former Ohio State star has just one bogey on his card through two rounds as does Cochran. Jay Don Blake is currently in third place, three behind Cook, while Tom Pernice, Jr., and Joey Sindelar trail by five strokes.

• Round 2 Leaderboard: 1) John Cook/131 (-11); 2) Russ Cochran/132 (-10); 3) Jay Don Blake/134 (-8); T4) Tom Pernice, Jr., & Joey Sindelar/136 (-6); 6) Peter Senior/137 (-5).

• Cook's 36-hole total of 11-under-par 131 matched the tournament's 36-hole scoring record set in 2000 by Bruce Fleisher, who later matched it in 2002. Mark Wiebe also posted the same score in 2008. Of the three times it has been posted, only Fleisher went on to win in 2000.

• Cook has won one of three events when he holds sole possession of the lead going into the final round. His lone win came at the 2009 Charles Schwab Cup Championship. He also led heading into the final round of the 2008 Senior British Open and finished second and he was also second at last year's Montreal Championship after leading after 36 holes.

• Cook is seeking to end a 0-106 drought in the state of Florida, including a 0-11 record on the Champions Tour.

• Cook and his amateur partner Todd Wagner also hold a one-stroke lead over Russ Cochran and his partner former Tampa Bay Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks. Cook and Wagner are at 21-under-par 121, while Cochran and Brooks are at 20-under-par 120.

• Russ Cochran has had some success in team competition since joining the Champions Tour. At last year's Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, Cochran teamed with his junior partner Spencer Jones to claim the pro-junior title.

Related

Round 2 scores
Amateur leaderboard
Transcript archive
Wrap-up: Round 2

• Hale Irwin positioned himself for another possible top-10 finish after his 3-under-par 68 on Saturday. He is currently T7. Irwin recently posted his 200th career top-10 finish at the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic and trails Bob Charles by three on the all-time Champions Tour list. Irwin also has eight top-10 finishes in 12 starts in this tournament.

• With two more sub-par rounds, Irwin now has 28 in his career at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, the most in tournament history.

• Tom Wargo matched his age, firing a 3-under-par 68 on Saturday. It was just the second time in his Champions Tour career that he has matched or bettered his age. A year ago he bettered his age when he fired an opening-round 65 at the inaugural Montreal Championship.

• Olin Browne has now posted 14 consecutive sub-par rounds after a 2-under-par 69.

• Jeff Sluman streak of par/better rounds ended at 25 when he finished with a 2-over-par 73. Sluman's streak had started last fall at the Administaff Small Business Classic near Houston.

• Second-round leaders have won 10 of the previous 23 tournaments, including the previous two -- Nick Price in 2009 and Bernhard Langer in 2011.

• Mike McCullough withdrew prior to the conclusion of his round due to illness.

• Jay Don Blake was the only player in the field to make a birdie at No. 2 on Saturday.

• Chip Beck and John Morse have been near perfect off the tee. The pair has hit 27 of 28 fairways to lead all players in that category. Beck came into the event T75 in that category.

• Saturday's scoring average of 72.000 was just a shade higher than Friday's first-round average of 71.897. A total of 27 finished under par compared to 30 players on Friday.