Collins leads by two after 36 holes in Springfield

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After coming up short last weekend in Wichita, Chad Collins leads by two strokes after 36 holes in Springfield.

Aug. 14, 2009
By Kin Lo, PGA TOUR Staff

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Chad Collins fired a second-consecutive 64 to get to 16 under and surged to a two-stroke lead at the 2009 Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper. Scott Gardiner of Australia and Brendan Steele from Irvine, Calif. are tied for second at 14-under par.

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Leaderboard: Scores

Round 3 tee times
Scorecard: Collins
Round 1 recap
Outside the Ropes: Blixt

Collins' two-round total of 128 ties the 36-hole record at Highland Springs Country Club. As could be expected, he was pleased with the performance.

"It was another solid day. I tried to have the same mentality and game plan as yesterday -- make a lot of birdies and no bogeys. I'm tickled to death and looking forward to the weekend."

After starting the year with two missed cuts, the 30-year-old from Cloverdale, Ind. seems to be hitting his stride. He has had two top-10s and jumped from 80th to 25th on the money list since he tied for fourth at the Rex Hospital Open at the end of May. Last week, he finished one shot back of winner Chris Tidland at the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open.

"Things are going well for me now. I've been playing great for the last three or four weeks," he said. "I tend to be a slow starter but begin to play well at the end of the year."

Collins had one of the first tee times of the day and was the leader in the clubhouse early. Gardiner, also in the morning wave, matched Collins' 64 to move 11 spots up the leaderboard. Steele was one of the final afternoon groups and carded his second 65 in a row.

The field was cut to 70 players at 5-under-par 139 or better. The third round begins at 7:15 a.m. CST on Saturday with the final group of Collins and Gardiner teeing off at 12:40 p.m.

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Notebook

• Many players have mentioned the importance of taking advantage of the par 5s this week. Through two rounds, Ryan Armour (tied for 50th) leads the field with a scoring average of 3.88 -- two eagles, four birdies and two pars. Collins is tied for second with an even-birdie average of 4.00 -- two eagles, four birdies and two pars. He has eagled the 11th hole in both rounds.

• Dave Schultz tied the back-nine record at Highland Springs with a 7-birdie 29. He finished with a 9-under 63 and is currently tied for 14th. Garrett Osborn, also tied for 14th, matched the 63 for as two low rounds of the day.

• Of the 17 players in "THE 25" at the start of the event, 11 of them made the cut and will compete on Saturday and Sunday. One of them, Roger Tambellini, is also the only former champion of this event out of six in the field to make the cut. He won here in 2005 and is currently in the group tied for sixth at 12 under.

• The longest drive of the tournament so far is 344 yards by Alex Aragon on the 17th hole in the second round.

• Won Joon Lee has his father caddying for him this week, who was visiting from Australia.

• Jason Enloe withdrew midway through his round due to a finger injury.

• Scoring averages: