Notebook: Round 2, WGC-CA Championship

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Weather: Temperatures in the lower 80s with very gusty winds out of the south/southwest at 15-25 mph. Rain began in the afternoon, with total rainfall at the golf course today equaling 1.15 inches. With the rain, temperatures dropped into the mid- to high 60s. Dry conditions returning over the weekend as humidity will drop and slightly cooler air returns.

• Play was suspended at 1:28 p.m. due to dangerous weather with 10 of the 23 groups completing play. Play resumed at 1:50 p.m. and was suspended again at 2:37 p.m. with 17 of the 23 groups completing play. Play resumed at 5:12 p.m.

Related

Daily Wrap-up: Rd. 2
Live Report: Round 2
Leaderboard: Rd. 2
Els more grounded

• In the 11 times the World Golf Championships-CA Championship has been played, there has never been a tie for the second-round lead.

• The 36-hole leader has gone on to win this event eight of the previous 10 times:

Tiger Woods - 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007

Ernie Els - 2004

Geoff Ogilvy -- 2008

Phil Mickelson -- 2009

• The best round of the day was a 66 (-6) recorded by five players: Ernie Els (1); Bill Haas (T3); Mike Weir (T7); and Peter Hanson (T13).

• Bogey-free rounds include Ernie Els (66-1st), Bill Haas (66-T3), Tim Clark (69-T7), Camilo Villegas (68-T13); Brian Gay (69-T31); Graeme McDowell (68-T22); and Kevin Na (70-T58).

Ernie Els, 68-66=134 (-10)

South Africa's Ernie Els holds the CA Championship lead after 36 holes and looking for his first victory since the 2008 Honda Classic. Els posted a bogey-free second round and leads a PGA TOUR event for the first time since the 2007 Verizon Heritage, where he was the 36-hole leader but went on to finish second. At the 2004 CA Championship, Els led by two shots after 36 holes (at 11-under-par) and shot 68-69 on the weekend to win by one.

In Round 2, Els was aided by the fact that he went 16 for 16 on putts inside of 10 feet. It was only the second time in Els's career in the SHOTLINK era that he had a bogey-free round in which he made all of at least 16 putts inside of ten feet. At last year's Mercedes-Benz Championship Ernie was 18 for 18 inside of 10 feet in a bogey-free final round to finish tied for sixth.

Els won the 2004 CA Championship (American Express Championship at the time) when it was held at Mount Juliet Conrad in Kilkenny, Ireland. A win this week would make Els only the third player to win the same World Golf Championships event more than once, joining Tiger Woods (7-Bridgestone Invitational; 6-CA Championship; 3-Accenture Match Play Championship) and Geoff Ogilvy (2-Accenture Match Play Championship).

Els, who will be 40 years, 4 months and 25 days old on Sunday, could become the second-oldest winner of a World Golf Championships event and the oldest in CA Championship history. The oldest player to win a World Golf Championships event is Vijay Singh, who is also the only player in his 40s to win a WGC.

Vijay Singh, 2008 Bridgestone Invitational, 45 years, 5 months, 12 days old

Phil Mickelson, 2009 HSBC Champions, 39 years, 4 months, 23 days old

Phil Mickelson, 2009 CA Championship, 38 years, 8 months, 27 days

David Toms, 2005 Accenture Match Play Championship, 38 years, 1 month, 23 days

Kevin Sutherland, 2002 Accenture Match Play Championship, 37 years, 7 months, 20 days

Els is one of three players in the field who have competed in all 11 CA Championships since 1999 (the 2001 event was cancelled), with Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen.

Els is playing in his 48th PGA TOUR (38) or European Tour (10) event since his last victory at the 2008 Honda Classic. Since then, he has recorded 15 top-10 finishes in those events and one runner-up finish (2009, The Barclays).

Robert Allenby, 68-67=135 (-9)

Through two rounds, Robert Allenby has an eagle-1 (ace on par-3 No. 13, round 2), eagle-2 (eagle on par-4, No. 5, round 1) and eagle-3 (eagle on par-5 No. 1, round 2) on his scorecard. Allenby is the only player in the last 20 years to have three eagles through the first two rounds at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral.

He was tied for the lead with Ernie Els, who finished four groups ahead of him, with just one hole to play, but Allenby made bogey on the par-3 ninth hole after three-putting from 59 feet.

Allenby is playing in his 218thevent since his last PGA TOUR victory at the 2001 Marconi Pennsylvania Classic. During that span, he has collected 51 top-10s and six runner-up finishes.

Allenby made a hole-in-one on the 233-yard, 13th hole (his fourth hole of the day) with a 5 wood. This is the first hole-in-one at the CA Championship since the event moved to TPC Blue Monster at Doral in 2007. There have been four previous hole-in-ones at the CA Championship at other courses (Tom Lehman, 2005; Thongchai Jaidee, 2004; Angel Cabrera, 2000; and Colin Montgomerie, 2000).

It was Allenby's seventh hole in one in the last 10 years on the PGA TOUR. No player on TOUR has as many holes in one in the last 10 years than Allenby. Second on that list is Shigeki Maruyama with five.

Since 1971 (when these records began being kept), there have been only 15 holes-in-one made at PGA TOUR events held at Doral Golf Resort & Spa. There have been no aces on No. 13 at least since 1983. Gary Koch is the only player on this list who made a hole-in-one at Doral and went on to win the tournament.

Allenby's scorecard through 36 holes shows only 13 pars (seven in round 1 and six in round 2):

1 hole-in-one

2 eagles

12 birdies

13 pars

7 bogeys

1 double-bogey

Bill Haas, 71-66=137 (-7)

Bill Haas, who won for the first time earlier this year at the Bob Hope Classic, carded a 66 (-6) in round 2 of the CA Championship to move up the leaderboard and into a T3 with Charl Schwartzel at 137 (-7). Haas is making his first career appearance at a World Golf Championships event.

Bill and Jay Haas are the second father-son duo to have competed in World Golf Championships events. Jay competed in eight World Golf Championships between 2003-2005, with a best finish of T5 at the 2003 Accenture Match Play Championship. Craig (1999, 2001) and son Kevin Stadler (2006-2007) also competed in World Golf Championships events.

Charl Schwartzel, 67-60=137 (-6)

Charl Schwartzel, is T3 after 36 holes, and looking for his second consecutive top-10 finish -- if not a win -- at a World Golf Championships event. Schwartzel finished T9 at the 2010 Accenture Match Play Championship after being ousted in the third round by Stewart Cink after 19 holes.

Schwartzel, the first-round leader, must have been comfortable sleeping on his lead, as he came out in round 2 and made an eagle on the par-5 No. 1. Only two players in the last 10 years have followed up their first round lead on tour with an eagle on their first hole the next round: Prayad Marksaeng in this tournament last year and John Senden at the 2002 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Schwartzel has won two events on the European Tour already this year -- the Africa Open and Joburg Open -- and is ranked No. 35 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He was No. 65 at the end of 2009.

Schwartzel posted the only bogey-free round on Thursday and was cruising along, bogey-free, until No. 12 during today when he made a double-bogey on the par-5 12th. Schwartzel hit his drive left and had 334 yards to the pin, forcing him to lay up. His approach came up short in the right bunker, and Schwartzel then pitched his fourth shot over the green and failed to get up and down.

Schwartzel, who will be 25 years, 6 months and 14 days old on Sunday, could become the second-youngest winner of the CA Championship, behind Tiger Woods. Woods was 23/11/7 when he won the 1999 event.

Miscellaneous

With Camilo Villegas capturing last week's Honda Classic, it marked the fourth player in his 20s to win on the PGA TOUR in 2010. Last year, a total of seven players in their 20s won PGA TOUR events:

This is the second-youngest field the event's history with an average age of 33.68 years (2008, average age of 33.40). There are 23 players in the field this week in their 20s and four are currently in the top 10 on the leaderboard:

T3 Charl Schwartzel (25)

T3 Bill Haas (27)

T7 Yuta Ikeda (24)

T7 J.B. Holmes (27)

Three players are competing in their first World Golf Championship event this week -- Bill Haas (T3), Marc Leishman (66th) and Alistair Presnell (T22).

Paul Casey (6 feet, 6 inches) had the closest approach shot on No. 18 in round 2 and made one of five birdies on the closing hole, along with Heath Slocum (48' 11"), Bill Haas (21' 5"), Scott Verplank (10' 5") and Graeme McDowell (10' 2").

In 2009, the par-5 first hole proved to be the easiest hole on the PGA TOUR for the season (4.196) while the 18thproved to be the second-most difficult for the year (4.479). This year, expect similar statistics as through 36 holes, No. 1 was the easiest hole on the course at 4.301 while No. 18 was the most difficult (4.455).

Here's a look at the closing hole so far this week.