Weather: Partly cloudy with high temperatures in the mid-80s and winds from the SE at 10-20 mph.
Round 2 Leaderboard: 1 -- Brad Faxon (-10/134); 2 -- Tommy Armour III (-9/135); 3 -- Eduardo Romero (-8/136); T4 -- Olin Browne (-7/137), Jay Haas (-7/137), Tom Lehman (-7/137).
Brad Faxon carded a bogey-free 7-under 65, the low round of the day, and holds a one-stroke lead over Tommy Armour III after 36 holes of this year's Insperity Championship. Faxon's round equaled Fred Couples' 65 on Saturday last year as the best second round at The Woodlands. With winds gusting to 20 mph, Faxon trailed John Cook by four strokes after the first seven holes, but he found himself tied for the lead three holes later after making a short birdie putt at No. 10. Armour III, celebrating his 52nd birthday today, also carded a bogey-free round and his 5-under 67 included a birdie at the par-5 15th that brought him within a stroke of Faxon's lead. Both Faxon and Armour III will be looking for their first victories on the Champions Tour tomorrow. Bernhard Langer is the only player in tournament history to claim his first Champions Tour title at this event (2007). First-round leader Michael Allen, who opened with a 63 on Friday, ballooned to a 79 today, and is now T24 through 36 holes.
For the second consecutive year at the Insperity Championship, 10-under 134 is the leader's score. Last year, Corey Pavin was ahead after two rounds, but Fred Couples came from two strokes back to win. This also marks the third straight year that the second-round leader at the Insperity Championship has enjoyed a one-stroke margin.
Second-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win three of the previous seven Insperity Championships but it hasn't happened since 2008. On the 2011 Champions Tour, Saturday leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win 10 of the 21 official events played thus far.
The winner of this event has come from the final grouping in three of the last four Insperity Championships. On the 2011 Champions Tour, the winner has come from the last group in 15 of the 21 official events, including the last seven tournaments (every event since the Senior British Open).
Both Faxon (6th career start) and Tommy Armour III (44th career start) are looking for their first wins on the Champions Tour and if one is successful tomorrow, it would be the fourth straight event won by a first-time winner -- Mark Calcavecchia/Boeing Classic, Jay Don Blake/Songdo IBD Championship, Kenny Perry/SAS Championship. The last time there were four straight first-time winners on the Champions Tour was in 2001 when Bobby Wadkins (Lightpath Long Island Classic), Bruce Lietzke (3M Championship), Steve Veriato (Novell Utah Showdown), Walter Hall (AT&T Canada Senior Open) all claimed their first titles on the circuit in succession.
Here are some fun facts on tomorrow's final grouping:
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Tom Lehman, the current Charles Schwab Cup leader, shot 70 today, his eighth straight sub-par round at this event. Lehman is currently T4 in the Insperity Championship through two rounds. Mark Calcavecchia, Lehman's closest pursuer in the 2011 Schwab Cup race, shot 71 today and is solo seventh through 36 holes this week. Calcavecchia currently trails Lehman by 398 points with three events left in the season. The winner of the Insperity Championship this week will earn 255 points. At the end of the official season, the player earning the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout.
There were 16 sub-70 rounds today compared with 14 rounds in the 60s yesterday. The field scoring average today was 72.064 vs. 72.241 on Friday. Through two rounds this year, the cumulative scoring average is 72.153. Last year on the Tournament Course at The Woodlands, the 36-hole cumulative scoring average was 72.835.
Through 36 holes, the Tournament Course's last two holes have played as the most difficult. The par-4 17th (4.395) has yielded 17 birdies while the par-4 18th (4.274) has given up only 12 birdies.
Top-30 status through next week's AT&T Championship gains entry into the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship and there should be some movement in the standings after this week's event. Here's a chart at how the players battling for a spot in the Charles Schwab Championship are doing after 36 holes this week:
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Tommy Armour III, currently 37th on the 2011 money list, is in second place and could jump into the top 30 should he finish solo third or better.
This and That: Through 36 holes, Brad Faxon has made the most birdies (12)...Fred Couples has eagled the first hole in each of the first rounds...Allen Doyle has hit 27 of 28 fairways (96.43%)...Olin Browne leads in greens hit in regulation, hitting 30 of 36 (83.3%)...Eduardo Romero has averaged 24 putts per round...Scott Hoch's 67 today moved him up 43 spots into a T27, the biggest move by a player in the field.
Jim Thorpe was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.