Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am: Second-round notebook

text size

LUTZ, Fla. -- Second-round leader Nick Price is 0-3 when heading into the final round with the lead on the Champions Tour. He held one-stroke margins at the 2008 Principal Charity Classic and 2008 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship before finishing tied for third and third, respectively. He also held a two-stroke advantage at the FedEx Kinko's Classic and eventually finished third.

Serota/Getty Images

Two-time defending champion Tom Watson will tee off Sunday 12 shots back.

Inside the Numbers

36-Hole Leaderboard

Player Score 1. Nick Price 133 -9 T2. Mike McCullough 136 -6 T2. Larry Nelson 136 -6 T2. Jay Haas 136 -6 5. Lonnie Nielsen 137 -5 6. Hal Sutton 138 -4 7. Mark McNulty 139 -3 T8. Larry Mize 140 -2 T8. David Eger 140 -2 T8. Tom Wargo 140 -2 T8. Loren Roberts 140 -2

• However, Price enjoyed more success on the PGA TOUR when holding sole possession of the lead going into the final round. He won seven of 10 times when in that position. The last win came at the 2002 MasterCard Colonial.

• Price's three-stroke lead is the largest 36-hole lead on the Champions Tour so far in 2009. The previous best was two strokes by Brad Bryant at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. At this event last year, Mark Wiebe also held a three-stroke margin after 36 holes and eventually finished tied for fifth.

• The last time Price played in the final group was at the 2008 Charles Schwab Cup Championship after starting the final round four strokes behind 54-hole leader Andy Bean. He finished tied for fifth. Larry Nelson's last appearance in a final group was at the 2004 SBC Classic (finished second), while Mike McCullough's came at the 2005 ACE Group Classic (tied for fourth).

• This is Price's 39th start on the Champions Tour and going back to his PGA TOUR career, he has gone 111 straight events without a win.

• Price was named PGA TOUR Player of the Year in 1993 and 1994. Nelson did not begin playing golf until he returned from military service in Vietnam. McCullough owns a pilot's license and has flown his own plane.

• Sunday's champion will pick up 255 points in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race. Bernhard Langer leads the race with 697 points followed by Andy Bean (414), Joey Sindelar (390), Keith Fergus (315) and Loren Roberts (305).

• Since the tournament moved to the TPC Tampa Bay in 1992, the second-round leader/co-leader has won the event just four times. Dave Stockton, who was tied with Dave Eichelberger after 36 holes in 1995, was the first, posting a two-stroke win over Bob Charles, J.C. Snead and Jim Colbert. Nelson (1999), Bruce Fleisher (2000) and Mark McNulty (2004) all were in sole possession of the lead after 36 holes and went on to victory.

• Of the previous 21 winners of this event, 13 came from behind on the final day, including six of the last seven champions. Rocky Thompson came from seven back on Sunday to win in 1994 thanks to a closing 10-under-par 61. Thompson's round established an all-time record for best Sunday round by a winner on the Champions Tour, a mark matched in 2006 by Loren Roberts at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai.

• Jack Nicklaus also made up a large margin with his win in Tampa in 1996. Trailing Isao Aoki by five strokes after 36 holes, Nicklaus fired a final-round 67 to win the event by a stroke over J.C. Snead.

• After shooting a 4-over-par 40 on his opening nine holes, Mark O'Meara is 5 under par in his last 27 holes. O'Meara also jumped from a tie for 46th to a tie for 12th.

• The low round of the day on Saturday was turned in by Hal Sutton, who fashioned a 7-under-par 64. It was Sutton's best round in his brief Champions Tour career and his best round since shooting a second-round 63 at the 2003 Valero Texas Open. His effort on Saturday was instrumental in moving from a tie for 52nd to sixth place.

• Langer will need a strong finish on Sunday if he is to continue his string of top-10 finishes this year. He has posted a top-10 finish in all six previous starts and goes into Sunday's final round tied for 19th.

• Joey Sindelar has finished in the top five in the last three events and like Langer, will need a good round on Sunday. Sindelar, the Champions Tour Player of the Month in March, is tied for 19th after a second-round 70.

• After 36 holes in the pro-am portion of the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, Lawrence Wosskow from Windemere, Fla., and his pro partner Mark McNulty, hold a three-stroke lead at 21-under-par 121. Wosskow and McNulty made nine net birdies and one net eagle on their way to an 11-under-par 60. The teams of Richard Verrecchia/McCullough and Vinny Testaverde/Price trail by three strokes. Five celebrities and 11 amateurs advanced to Sunday's final round. The celebrities include Testaverde, Bill Murray, Emmitt Smith, Derrick Brooks and George Lopez.

• The field scoring average Saturday was nearly identical to Friday's. The field averaged 72.461 on Saturday compared to 72.342. There were just 10 rounds in the 60s Saturday compared to 17 on Friday. The most difficult hole Saturday was again No. 15 (4.474 while No. 12 was again the easiest (4.750). Overall, there were just three eagles made Saturday.

• Fuzzy Zoeller leads in Driving Accuracy at 92.8% (26 of 28), while Tom Jenkins leads the field in Greens in Regulation, hitting 31 of the 36. McCullough leads with just 51 putts (25.5), and has carded 21 one-putts.