Allianz Championship: Second-round notebook

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Feb. 14, 2009
By Dave Senko, PGA TOUR Staff

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Gil Morgan (62 years, 4 mos., 20 days) and Tom Jenkins (61 years, 2 mos., 1 day) are bidding to become the 18th player over the age of 60 to win a Champions Tour event. The last player to do so was Morgan, who prevailed at the 2007 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach at age 60 years, 11 mos., 7 days. It was the last of 25 Champions Tour victories for Morgan. Jenkins, a seven-time winner, last won at the 2006 SAS Championship.

Badz/PGA TOUR

Dan Forsman jumped 26 spots on the board with his Saturday 65.

Inside the Numbers

36-Hole Leaderboard

Player	Score
T1. Gil Morgan	134 -10
T1. Tom Jenkins	134 -10
T3. Mike Goodes	135 -9
T3. Jerry Pate	135 -9
T5. Dan Forsman	136 -8
T5. Mark James	136 -8
T5. Larry Mize	136 -8
T5. Fulton Allem	136 -8
T9. Jay Haas	137 -7
T9. Bernhard Langer	137 -7

• Morgan and Jenkins will be joined in the final group by 52-year-old Mike Goodes, who is seeking his first Tour victory. His best finish was a second-place effort at last year's JELD-WEN Tradition.

• Morgan and Jenkins have been in the final group a couple of times in recent years together. In 2008 the pair were joined by eventual champion R.W. Eaks at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. Jenkins finished tied for second and Morgan tied for seventh at the event. In 2006, Jenkins and Morgan played in the final group with Jay Haas. Jenkins lost in a playoff with John Harris, while Morgan tied for third. In addition, Jenkins, Morgan and Bob Murphy shared the lead at the 2000 Instinet Classic in Princeton, but Morgan's final-round 66 earned him a four-stroke victory over Murphy and Bruce Fleisher. Jenkins finished fourth.

• First round co-leader Jerry Pate is currently tied for third after a 1-under-par 71 and trails by just one stroke. Pate would like nothing better than to erase the memories of his final-round 73 in last year's event. He was the 36-hole leader by one stroke over eventual champion Scott Hoch, but was unable to hold on. A victory by Pate would be impressive since he underwent both left shoulder and left knee surgery last July 25th.

• Bernhard Langer appeared in good shape when he held the lead going to No. 15, but went bogey, bogey, double bogey on the next three holes to drop four strokes and eventually fall back to a tie for ninth. He'll begin Sunday's final round three back.

• Jeff Sluman needed a strong finish on Saturday to keep his streak intact of par/better rounds. Sluman was 1-over-par with two holes remaining, but went birdie-birdie to shoot a 1-under-par 71 and increase his string of par or better rounds to 30. The all-time Champions Tour record is 37 by Loren Roberts in 2006-2007. Larry Nelson is second with 32 in 2000.

• Andy Bean's second straight 3-under-par 69 gave him nine straight rounds in the 60s dating back to last year. His 69 also gave him 16 straight rounds of par or better and 12 consecutive sub-par rounds, both dating back to 2008.

• Haas and Dan Forsman made two of the day's biggest moves after sharing honors with Morgan on Saturday for the day's low round. The trio all shot 7-under-par 65s. Haas moved up 34 spots to a tie for ninth, while Forsman jumped 26 from a ie for 31th to a tie for fifth.

• Langer is trying to become just the fourth player to win the first two events in a season and the first since Roberts in 2006. The other two were Don January (1981) and Larry Nelson (2001).

• The field scoring average dropped slightly from 71.570 on Friday to 71.423 on Saturday. A total of 43 players in the field bettered par compared to 42 players a day earlier. There were 22 rounds in the 60s after 20 were posted in Round 1.

• Goodes leads in Greens in Regulation (31 of 36/86.11%) and Larry Mize leads in Driving Accuracy (23 of 28/82.14%) after two rounds. Phil Blackmar has the fewest putts with 50 (25.0). Goodes also leads with 14 birdies.

• Since 1998, the winner of the Champions Tour's first event on the U.S. mainland has gone on to enjoy a highly successful season, with all 11 previous winners finishing in the top 30 on the final money list. Last year's winner, Hoch, placed ninth on the 2008 money list.

• Craig Stadler withdrew prior to the start of Saturday's round with back spasms.

• Mark James, the 2007 champion, is currently tied for fifth and just two strokes back. James earned a berth in this year's event after finishing in the top 10 at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

• Sunday's winner will receive 256 points in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race. Langer leads after just one event with 315 points followed by Bean with 196 and Haas with 132. Haas was the 2006 and 2008 Charles Schwab Cup winner.