At 53, Roberts finds himself among St. Jude leaders

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Matching 67s have Loren Roberts in line to become the oldest winner in PGA TOUR history.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Loren Roberts was hoping just to make the cut.

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He's 53 years old, for goodness sakes. In fact, Tim Wilkinson, one of his playing partners Friday during the second round of the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx, was born three years after Roberts turned pro in 1975.

Age certainly didn't affect the numbers on his scorecard Friday, though.

Roberts fired his second straight 67 to move to 6 under and four strokes off the lead held by Brian Gay. A man who simply wanted to make the cut in his hometown suddenly finds himself in contention to win the ninth PGA TOUR event of his career.

"I really came here with no expectations," Roberts said, acknowledging that may have been a blessing in disguise. "You go out and you freewheel a little bit."

Roberts spends most of his time on the Champions Tour these days, you see. In fact, he won the ACE Group Classic in February, his ninth victory since turning 50, and he has five other top-10s in 2009. He'd be the first to tell you that he's moved on.

But Roberts did take a one-time PGA TOUR exemption for being among the top 50 in career money. He was afraid that he might lose it, and the status enabled him to commit to play at TPC Southwind rather than take a sponsor's exemption from a younger player.

"I just felt like I maybe turned back the clock a little bit today," Roberts said. "Who knows? Maybe I'll redefine the rest of my year on the Champions Tour."

And now, in his 25th appearance at the St. Jude Classic, Roberts has a chance to become the TOUR's oldest winner -- edging out Sam Snead, who won the Greater Greensboro Open for the eighth time in 1964 at the age of 52 years, 10 months and eight days.

Roberts could also become the fourth player to win on the Champions Tour and PGA TOUR in the same year. He doesn't want to get ahead of himself, though.

"I think this particular golf course is just tough enough and yet it's just short enough that somebody like me can possibly have a chance if you hole some putts at the right time," Roberts said.

And the Germantown, Tenn., resident is one of the best-ever at holing putts. He's not called the "Boss of the Moss" for nothing. He's needed just 26 putts each of the first two rounds.

"I felt really positive about my game the first two days," Roberts said. "And I stood up there and made some putts when I had to. ... The last six months to a year (I) maybe struggled a little bit off and on with that. It was nice to really hole some today.

"Hopefully we can keep that going."

Roberts started on the back nine Friday and reeled off nine straight pars. He birdied three of his first four holes on the front, though -- on putts of 6, 9 and 13 feet -- to make his move up the leaderboard.

"I played really good yesterday, really solid and came out with a mindset today of just working on getting the first tee shot in the fairway. (I was) probably a little conservative around the back nine," Roberts said.

"... (I) turned even par and kind of put my foot on the gas a little bit and hit some real good iron shots. ... So it was nice to get that little extra juice at the middle of the round."

Most important, though, Roberts did not make a bogey on Friday, which he called "huge." He's looking forward to seeing what happens on Saturday and Sunday.

"I'm just so thankful the Memphis community has rallied around this tournament the way it has (after it lost its title sponsor)," Roberts said. "I just kind of wanted to make the cut to be around for the weekend and to be in contention, that's a huge bonus."