Mitsubishi Electric C'ship: Round 2 notebook

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Weather: Sunny with highs in the low-80s and winds from the W at 5-10 mph.

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Leaderboard: Round 2
Scorecard: Watson
Scorecard: Couples
Scorecard: Lehman
Scorecard: Allen
Round 3 Tee Times

• Sunday's final pairing shapes up to be an epic battle between two former Masters champions who are 10 years apart in age. For the first time since the second round of the 2003 British Open Championship at Royal St. George's Golf Club in England, Tom Watson and Fred Couples will play together. At Royal St. George's that year, the duo were joined for the first two rounds of the event by Sandy Lyle. Watson went on to finish T18 that week while Couples was T46. Watson only played in the final grouping on the Champions Tour one time last year, eventually finishing second to Jay Haas at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship in October. The winner of this event has come from the last grouping in each of the last four years.

• Tom Watson will be searching for his 14th career victory on the Champions Tour tomorrow and first since teaming with Andy North to win the 2008 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (17 official events ago). Should Watson win tomorrow at 60 years, 4 months and 20 days, he would be the second oldest winner in Mitsubishi Electric Championship history (Hale Irwin, 2007, 61 years, 7 months, 18 days). He would also be the 13th oldest winner in Champions Tour history and would be the oldest winner on the Champions Tour since Gil Morgan captured the 2007 Walmart First-Tee Open at Pebble Beach (60 years, 11 months, 7 days).

• In his Champions Tour career, Watson has led or been the co-leader heading into the final round 11 times in stroke-play events and won four events (1999 Bank One Championship, 2001 Senior PGA Championship, 2002 Senior Tour Championship at Gaillardia, 2005 Senior British Open). One of those 11 occasions was the season-opening tournament at Hualalai in 2005 when he enjoyed a three-stroke lead over Wayne Levi through two rounds, but lost to Dana Quigley in a playoff. On the PGA TOUR, Watson won twice in his first event of a season, capturing the 1978 Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open and 1984 Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championship. Also, should Watson win Sunday, he would end an 0-33 TOUR victory drought in Hawaii.

• Fred Couples has made just one bogey in his first 36 holes this week. He's trying to win his first Champions Tour event in his debut on the circuit, something that has been done 15 times in history, including three times last year (Tom Lehman-Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, Michael Allen-Senior PGA Championship, Tom Pernice, Jr.-SAS Championship). If Couples should win on Sunday, it would be his first triumph in a TOUR event since the 2003 Shell Houston Open. A sponsor exemption this week, Couples would be the first player ever to make this event his first victory on the Champions Tour and he would be the ninth professional to win this tournament in his first attempt (Orville Moody/1984, Peter Thomson/1985, Dave Hill/1988, George Archer/1990, Jack Nicklaus/1994, John Bland/1996, John Jacobs/1999, Loren Roberts/2006).

• In the previous 26 Mitsubishi Electric Championships, the Saturday leader/co-leader has gone on to win 16 times. However, in the last six years, Hale Irwin (2007) was the only Saturday leader who went on to triumph.

• For the third consecutive year, the tournament leader after two rounds is at 15-under-par 129. Tom Watson's 36-hole total this year is one stroke off his Champions Tour career low for the first two rounds of an event (128-2005 MasterCard Championship). Watson's five birdies in a row to begin the back nine today was his best birdie streak in an event on the Champions Tour since he had five straight birdies in Rd. 1 of the 2008 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am where he went on to win.

• The winner of tomorrow's tournament will receive 315 Charles Schwab Cup points in the season- long Charles Schwab Cup race. Last year, Loren Roberts won his second Schwab Cup, finishing 319 points in front of John Cook. The Schwab Cup offers $2.1 million in tax-deferred annuity payouts to the five leading finishers, with the winner receiving a $1 million payout.

• Overall, the field average for Round 2 was 68.333 vs. 68.944 for Round 1. The Saturday stroke average last year at Hualalai was 68.876. Today there were 25 rounds in the 60s compared to 22 yesterday.

• The par-3 5th hole at Hualalai played as the hardest par-3 on the Champions Tour last year (3.480) and gave up just four total birdies. Through two rounds this year, the diabolical par-3 is the most difficult on the course, again living up to its reputation (3.361). Only R.W. Eaks (Rd. 1) and Tom Lehman (Rd. 2) have made birdies on the hole so far this week.

• World Golf Hall of Fame member Gary Player holed a bunker shot for birdie at No. 16 that allowed him to eventually shoot 2-over 74 and match his age today. It marked the 29th time in his illustrious career that he's shot his age or better in competition on the Champions Tour.

• John Cook recorded his seventh straight round in the 60s dating back to last year and has an outside chance to win not only his second consecutive Champions Tour event but also his third title in the last four official tournaments. After claiming the 2009 Administaff Small Business Classic in Houston, Cook won the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, Cali. The last player to win the final official tournament of a year and then go on to claim the first official event of the next season was Gil Morgan (1997 Energizer Senior Tour Championship/1998 MasterCard Championship).

• Mark O'Meara and Andy North both posted 7-under 65s, the best rounds of the day. For North, today's round was his best at stroke-play on the Champions Tour since he shot 65 in Rd. 2 of the 2003 FleetBoston Classic.