Round 2 Notebook: Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am

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Apr. 17, 2010
By Phil Stambaugh, PGA TOUR Staff

Round 2 Leaderboard: 1-- Bernhard Langer (-9); T2-- Mark O'Meara (-8), Mike Reid (-8); 4 -- Tom Kite (-7); T5 -- Keith Fergus (-6), Nick Price (-6), Dan Forsman (-6)

• The top four players on the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am leaderboard all have major championship credentials. Bernhard Langer won two Masters titles on the PGA TOUR, Mike Reid won both the 2005 Senior PGA Championship and 2009 JELD-WEN Tradition on the Champions Tour. Mark O'Meara won the 1998 Masters and British Open on the PGA TOUR and Tom Kite won the 1992 U.S. Open on the PGA TOUR as well as the 2000 Countrywide Tradition on the Champions Tour.

• Here's some fun facts on tomorrow's final grouping:

Player	Bernhard Langer	Mark O'Meara
Last Win	2010 Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Fla.	1998 British Open (237 starts on the PGA TOUR/Champions Tour since his last victory at Royal Birkdale.
Best 2010 Champions Tour Finish	Win-Allianz Championship	T11-Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai
Champions Tour Wins	9- Making his third career appearance at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am and 51st career start. Was T34 in 2008 and T13 last year in Tampa.	None- Has finished second in eight Champions Tour events with his last runner-up finish coming at the 2009 Boeing Classic near Seattle.
PGA TOUR Wins	3	16
Did You Know?	Should he win his 10th title on the Champions Tour tomorrow, he would move into a T26 on the all-time Champions Tour victory list.	Of O'Mearas 18 career victories on the PGA TOUR, two titles came in the state of Florida (1991 Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic/1995 Honda Classic).

• The second-round leader/co-leader has won the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am just five times in the last 17 years. In 2009, Nick Price was the first Saturday leader since Mark McNulty (2004) to go on to victory. Thus far on the Champions Tour, leaders heading into the final round have gone on to win three of the five official events played.

• Bernhard Langer's record on the Champions Tour with the second-round lead/co-lead is pretty good. When he's held the Saturday lead, he's won five times in seven attempts. The last time Langer led after play on Saturday was at the 2009 Triton Financial Classic near Austin, Texas and he went on to win that event wire-to-wire by six strokes.

• Here's a quick look at how the leading contenders have fared in the final grouping in their Champions Tour careers:

Player	Thru 2008	2009	2010	Total
Langer	7 times/won 4	4 times/won 2	1 time/won	12/7
O'Meara	4 times/no wins	3 times/no wins	none	7/0
Mike Reid	2 times/won 1	1 time/won	none	3/2

• Fred Couples has an outside shot at winning a fourth straight event, something that's been done only one other time in the history of the Champions Tour (Chi Chi Rodriguez, 1987). After posting an even-par 71 yesterday, Couples shot 4-under 67 today and moved up 14 places into a T12 through 36 holes of the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. Couples trails Bernhard Langer by five strokes with just 18 holes to play. His biggest come-from-behind win on the PGA TOUR was at the 1996 Players Championship when he was T5 after 54 holes, four strokes back of Tommy Tolles. He fired a final-round 64 at the TPC Stadium course that featured a eagle at No. 16 and birdie at No. 17 to win by four shots over Colin Montgomerie and Tolles.

Leaderboard: Round 2

Video: Zoeller on No. 13
Video: Azinger on No. 18
Video: Reid on No. 6

• Several players have made up large margins on the last day to win at the TPC Tampa Bay. Rocky Thompson (1994) came from seven strokes back on Sunday in 1994, thanks to a closing 10-under-par 61, the biggest comeback in event history. Jack Nicklaus trailed Isao Aoki by five strokes after 36 holes in 1996, but eventually won by one stroke over J.C. Snead.

• Tom Kite's 4-under-par 67 today marked the first time he's posted back-to-back rounds in the 60s at the TPC Tampa Bay since 2002 (66 in Rounds 1 & 2) and his best 18-hole score in the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am since an opening-round 63 in the 2004 event. Kite's best career finish in nine previous appearances at this event is a T5 in both 2002 and 2006.

• Don't look for overtime tomorrow. There have been only two playoffs in the previous 22 years of the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. In 1989, Bob Charles defeated Jim Ferree, Harold Henning and Dave Hill with a birdie on the third extra hole. In 1992, Jim Colbert defeated George Archer with a birdie on the fourth extra hole.

• The winner of tomorrow's Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am will receive 255 Charles Schwab Cup points in the season-long race. Fred Couples, the current leader in the Schwab Cup (931 points) is T12 after two rounds this week. Bernhard Langer, currently in second place behind Couples with 479 points, has the tournament lead and can narrow the gap with a win tomorrow. At the end of the season, the player earning the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout.

• With ideal scoring conditions today, there were 23 scores under 70 compared to just 14 rounds in the 60s yesterday. Today's stroke average was 71.397 vs. 72.295 on Friday. Overall, the cumulative stroke average through two rounds this year is 71.846 compared to 72.382 after two rounds last year.