Toshiba Classic
Monday Mar 3 – Sunday Mar 9, 2008

Toshiba Classic: Round 2 Notebook

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Mar. 8, 2008
By Dave Senko, PGA TOUR Staff

Toshiba Classic: Langer leads | Round 3 Tee Times | Leaderboard

• Second-round leader Bernhard Langer's three-stroke advantage is the largest 36-hole lead since Mark Johnson held a similar margin over Keith Fergus in 2005.

• Langer will be trying to be the first 36-hole leader on the Champions Tour this year to win an event. All four previous leaders/co-leaders have failed to hold on.

• Langer's 36-hole total of 130 was just one stroke shy of the 36-hole tournament record set in 2003 by Rodger Davis and matched last year by Jay Haas.

Jerry Pate owns the biggest comeback this year in four previous events on the Champions Tour. Pate trailed Gil Morgan by four strokes at the Turtle Bay Championship before going on to win the event.

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Morris Hatalsky (WireImage)

• A total of 255 points in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race will be awarded to the winner of the 2008 Toshiba Classic. Scott Hoch leads with 488 points, followed by Fred Funk with 300 points. Brad Bryant (299), Jerry Pate (285) and Loren Roberts (205) round out the top five. Tournament leader Bernhard Langer is currently ninth with 159 points.

• In the previous 13 tournaments, seven players who have led or been tied for the lead after 36 holes have gone on to win this event, including six times in the last eight years. The exceptions were in 2006 when Brad Bryant came from three strokes back to win and in 2001 when Jose Maria Canizares made up a five-stroke deficit to 36-hole leader Terry Mauney to defeat Gil Morgan in a nine-hole playoff. One tournament oddity is that in the previous 13 events, only twice has there been co-leaders after 36 holes --- 2004 --Tom Purtzer and Morris Hatalsky; 2006 -- Purtzer, Bob Eastwood and Graham Marsh.

•One day after 50 players in the 78-man field finished with rounds under par, that number dropped to 40 Saturday and the field average jumped from 69.679 to 70.538.

• Morris Hatalsky moved into contention following a 7-under-par 64 on Saturday. His 64 was one stroke shy of his all-time low on the Champions Tour and it was his best effort since he had a 64 in the final round of the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am in February, 2006. Hatalsky's round on Saturday allowed him to jump from a T26 on Friday to a T2 where he is among four players who will be chasing Langer on Sunday.

• Despite bogeys on his final three holes, Gary Player matched his age with a 1-over-par 72. It marked the 11th time in his Champions Tour career he has done so. He has also bettered his age eight times.

• Scott Hoch's bid to become the first player in two years to win three straight tournaments took a hit on Saturday when he shot a 1-over-par 72. He heads into Sunday's final round T33, nine strokes behind Bernhard Langer.

Curtis Strange leads all players in the event with 15 birdies.

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