Charles Schwab Cup Championship: Rd. 2 notes
By Phil Stambaugh, PGA TOUR Staff
SONOMA, Calif. -- John Cook's 10-under 62 Friday is a new Charles Schwab Cup Championship tournament record (five players shot 63) for 18 holes and it bested Jim Thorpe (Round 1/2003) and Jay Haas' (Round 3/2005) 9-under rounds at Sonoma Golf Club.
• Cook's 10-under 62 today was his lowest career score on the Champions Tour and matched his best career round on the PGA TOUR (62, five times, last at the 2002 Sony Open in Hawaii).
• Cook's two-round total of 14-under 130 was also a career-best on the Champions Tour and matches the 36-hole tournament record. In 2003 on Thursday and Friday, Jim Thorpe carded rounds of 63-67--130 at Sonoma Golf Club.
• Cook's three-stroke margin over Tom Watson and Phil Blackmar after two rounds matches the largest 36-hole lead in tournament history. In 2003, Thorpe enjoyed a three-stroke lead over Tom Jenkins.
• Today marks the first time on the Champions Tour that Cook has led a tournament after two rounds. On the PGA TOUR, Cook was a 36-hole leader/co-leader 13 times and went on to win on three occasions. The last time he was a leader was at the 2005 Southern Farm Bureau Classic when he shared the top spot after two rounds with Jonathan Byrd, Kevin Na, Tom Pernice, Jr., Tag Ridings and Bob Tway. The last time Cook had sole possession of first place after two rounds and went on to win was at the 2001 Reno-Tahoe Open.
• Since the Charles Schwab Cup Championship became a 72-hole event in 1994, second-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win this event only five of 15 times and twice in the previous six years at Sonoma Golf Club (Thorpe, 2003/Andy Bean, 2008).
• This and That: Both Cook and Blackmar have made only one bogey over the first 36 holes... Cook has made 15 birdies in 36 holes, the most by a player in the 29-man field...Loren Roberts has eagled the par-5 13th hole in each of the first two rounds. He's the only player in the field with a pair of eagles...Jenkins has made birdie on seven of the eight par-5s at Sonoma Golf Club.
• The 29-player field averaged 68.345 today, the lowest scoring average ever for a round in event history. In the seven-year history here at Sonoma Golf Club, the previous-best scoring round was on Sunday of the 2003 event (68.833). Yesterday's first-round stroke average was 70.414. On Thursday, only nine players had rounds in the 60s but today, 22 players broke 70. On Thursday, Sonoma Golf Club gave up six eagles and 122 birdies but on Friday, the course yielded two eagles and 146 birdies.
• For the first time in Charles Schwab Cup Championship history, two players had 9-hole scores of 6-under 30 on the same day. Bernhard Langer's30 on the back nine led to a 7-under 65 and moved him up 13 spots into a T7, the biggest move of the day. Cook birdied six of his first nine holes today.
• Jay Haas' 4-under 68 today extends his streak of par/better rounds this year to 18 consecutive...Roberts' 1-over 73 was his first over-par round at Sonoma Golf Club, ending a run of 17 straight par/better scores at this course.
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