Administaff Small Business Classic: Second-round notebook
By Dave Senko, PGA TOUR Staff
THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Sixteen players are within three strokes of the lead heading into Sunday's final round.
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• Co-leader Bernhard Langer is bidding to become the fourth player to defend a title on the Champions Tour in 2008. The three previous players who did so were Tom Watson (Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf/with Andy North), Jay Haas (Principal Charity Classic) and R.W. Eaks (Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn).
• Lonnie Nielsen and Brad Bryant, who share the lead with Langer at 9 under par, are each seeking their first win of the 2008 campaign. Bryant was a two-time winner in 2007, while Nielsen posted one victory. The two were partners at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in March and finished tied for sixth.
• Bernhard Langer is a combined 34 under par through five rounds in the Administaff Small Business Classic. He won last year's event with a 54-hole total of 25 under par and is 9 under par after 36 holes here.
• A win by Langer on Sunday would vault him back atop the money list again heading into the year's final two events. He trails current leader Jay Haas by $44,053.
• In the four-year history of the tournament, two of four previous second-round-leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win the event: Jay Haas in 2006 and Bernhard Langer in 2007. However, Haas' victory came in a weather-shortened event when rain forced cancellation of Sunday's final round.
• Bernhard Langer will be in a somewhat familiar spot when he plays in the last group on Sunday with Brad Bryant and Lonnie Nielsen. Including this week, Langer has been in the last group six times in 19 starts, the most by any player. He has been victorious twice in his previous five appearances in the final group, winning the Toshiba Classic and the Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach.
• Brad Bryant has been in the final group twice this year. One of those was at the AT&T Champions Classic in March where he was joined by Bernhard Langer and Jay Haas. The other was at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf where he was paired with his partner Lonnie Nielsen along with the team of Tom Watson and Andy North. Nielsen's other appearance in the last group was at the Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach where he played with Langer and Fred Funk.
• Brad Bryant held sole possession of the lead in this event in 2005 by two strokes before eventually finishing fourth in an event won by Mark McNulty.
• Hal Sutton followed his 1-under-par 71 on Friday with a 2-under-par 70 on Saturday and is currently tied for 28th.
• The winner of the Administaff Small Business Classic will earn 255 points in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race with additional points going to other top-10 finishers. Co-leader Bernhard Langer is currently in third place in the race with 2,025 points. Current leader Fred Funk (2,422 points) is tied for seventh and Jay Haas, second in the race with 2,394 points, is also tied for seventh.
• The field averaged 71.253 on Saturday compared to 71.434 on Friday. There were 46 players with rounds below par and 21 rounds in the 60s.
• Current Charles Schwab Cup leader Fred Funk made the day's biggest move, jumping 35 spots from a tie for 42nd after the first round to a tie for seventh heading into Sunday's final round.
• Dave Stockton shows no sign of rust after a six-week layoff. The 66-year-old Stockton has posted consecutive 3-under-par 69s and is tied for seventh. Should he finish in the top 10, it would be the first of the year for him. Stockton recently served as an assistant captain to Paul Azinger on the victorious United States Ryder Cup team.
• One of those lurking within three shots of the lead is Curtis Strange. He is a three-time winner of the Shell Houston Open, including two of those at The Woodlands Country Club.
• Jay Haas and David Eger each were within one stroke of the lead heading to No. 18 on Saturday, but each suffered a double bogey on the final hole to drop three strokes behind the leaders. Haas had clawed his way back into contention with successive birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 before his error on the final hole.
• The 9:30 a.m. pairing on Sunday includes two former University of Texas Longhorn golfers: Ben Crenshaw and Phil Blackmar. They'll be joined by John Cook (Ohio State).
• Fred Funk, Morris Hatalsky and Denis Watson shared honors for the day's low round, 6-under-par 66.
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