The ACE Group Classic: Second-round notebook

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NAPLES, Fla. -- Gene Jones holds a 36-hole lead on the Champions Tour for the first time in his brief career on the circuit. The Orlando resident joined the Champions Tour last year and played his way into the top 30 on the money list despite being non-exempt for the entire season.

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After a 70-71 start, Loren Roberts is only one shot off the lead.

• Jones will play in the last group for the second time in his Champions Tour career. He was in the last group at the 3M Championship in Minnesota last year, trailing R.W. Eaks by three strokes after two rounds at the TPC Twin Cities. Jones eventually finished fourth in that event.

• Jones' 36-hole total of 4-under-par 140 matches the tournament record for highest two-round total to lead. Back in 1989 at Pelican Bay, Harold Henning and Gene Littler were at 4 under after play on Saturday and Littler went on to win with a score of 7-under 209.

• James Mason posted the low round of the day, a 5-under-par 67, and made the biggest move of the day. Mason's score vaulted him up 34 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for second. After being non-exempt in 2007-2008, Mason regained fully-exempt status on the 2009 Champions Tour by finishing fourth at the National Qualifiying Tournament last year.

• Mason is looking to secure his first win since the 2002 NFL Golf Classic (6 years, 8 months, 20 days). Until Sunday, Mason has not been in the last group on the Champions Tour since the 2003 FleetBoston Classic.

• Don Pooley is also seeking to end a considerable victory drought. Pooley last won on the Champions Tour at the 2003 Allianz Championship in Iowa and has now gone almost 5 ½ years (124 starts) without another title.

• The winner of the 2009 ACE Group Classic will earn 240 Charles Schwab Cup points. Bernhard Langer currently leads this year's Schwab Cup race with 437 points and Mike Goodes is second with 255 points. At the end of the official season, the player with the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout.

• Loren Roberts posted a 1-under 71 Saturday and now has a string of 11 consecutive sub-par rounds in Naples. Roberts has finished first, tied for fifth and tied for sixth in the three previous appearances at this event.

• Saturday's stroke average of 74.240 was almost the same as the first round (74.244). There were only four rounds in the 60s on Friday compared to just three Saturday (James Mason, Brad Bryant, Jeff Sluman). The par-3 third hole played as the hardest Saturday (3.480) and there were just three birdies made (Bruce Fleisher, John Harris, Chip Beck) on the hole.

• 69-year-old Jim Dent stands at 1-under-par 143 through 36 holes this week (tied for 11th). Should he manage to finish among the top 10, he would become the oldest to do so since 69-year-old Joe Jimenez finished tied for 10th at the 1995 GTE Northwest Classic.

• J.C. Snead (back), Bob Murphy (back) and Curtis Strange (hip) all withdrew before the start of their second rounds.