Round 2 Notebook: Regions Charity Classic
 
May. 19, 2007

• The last time Bob Gilder held sole possession of the lead heading into the final round was at the 2005 Constellation Energy Classic near Baltimore where he went wire-to-wire. In his Champions Tour career, Gilder has won five of 10 tournaments he led or shared the lead going into the final round. His win in Maryland ended a victory drought of two years, four months and 28 days. Should he win on Sunday, it would end a drought of one year, eight months and 2 days.

dent2.jpg
Bob Gilder

• The second round leader/co-leaders have won seven of 10 tournament this year, including the last three.

• The Regions Charity Classic remains the only event on the Champions Tour that has been played at least 15 years without having a repeat winner. The best finishes by defending champions were fourth-place efforts by Hale Irwin in 2002 and Tom Jenkins in 2004

• Should Scott Hoch come from two strokes back to prevail on Sunday, it would mark the third successive tournament a former Wake Forest golfer has won on the Champions Tour. Jay Haas started the string with a win at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf and Hoch was the second with his victory in Austin two weeks ago at the FedEx Kinko's Classic.

• This marks the second consecutive year that 10-under-par led the tournament after 36 holes. Mark McNulty led at that number in 2006. He eventually finished second behind Brad Bryant.

• In the previous 15 events, seven players who have led or been tied for the lead after 36 holes have gone on to win the tournament. From 1995-2001, it only happened in odd years: Graham Marsh (1995), Jay Sigel (1997), Larry Nelson (1999) and Hale Irwin (2001). George Archer (1992), Bruce Fleisher (2004), D.A. Weibring (2005) and Brad Bryant (2006) were the others.

dent1.jpg
Jim Dent

Jim Dent bettered his age for the first time in his Champions Tour career when he fired a 5-under-par 67. The 68-year-old Dent is the third player to accomplish the feat this year. Gary Player has bettered his age twice, while Dale Douglass did it one time.

• Dent's effort helped him make the day's biggest move, jumping 34 spots from a T59 on Friday to a T25 heading into Sunday. Last year's runner-up Mark McNulty moved up 32 spots following a 5-under-par 67.

• Hale Irwin, who is just 15 days shy of his 62nd birthday, is currently in third place and trails by three strokes. Irwin owns three Champions Tour wins since turning 60. Irwin is also bidding for his 46th career victory on the Champions Tour and is also seeking his second win in this tournament. He won in 2001 and was second in 1998. He has won $719,045 in his career at this tournament.

• Defending champion Brad Bryant is T6 at 5-under-par.

Gilder the Finisher
Below is a rundown on how the top three players have played the final three holes:
Player No. 16 No. 17 No. 18 Total
Bob Gilder -3 -2 -1 -6
Scott Hoch Even Even +1 +1
Hale Irwin -2 Even Even -2