Notebook: Toshiba Classic, Round 2

text size

March 16, 2013

By Phil Stambaugh, Champions Tour staff

-- David Frost’s 18-foot eagle putt on the last hole moved him ahead of Fred Couples into the lead after 36 holes of the Toshiba Classic. Both players came to the 18th hole tied for the lead and Frost hit a low running 3-iron second shot through a gap and the ball ended up behind the flag on the par-5 hole, setting up the dramatic putt. Couples then two-putted from 35 feet for a birdie. Both players fashioned 5-under 66s and for Frost, it was his eighth round in the 60s this year of the 11 he’s played.

The last grouping

Stats and more

Player	David Frost (-13)	Fred Couples (-12)	Jim Gallagher, Jr. (-8)
Last Win	2012 AT&T Championship (10/28); searching for second victory on Champions Tour in his last six appearances; also won in Mauritius on the European Senior Tour during this stretch.	2012 Senior Open Championship (7/29); has only played three times on Champions Tour since last victory	1995 FedEx St. Jude Classic on the PGA TOUR (7/2); seeking to end a victory drought of 205 PGA TOUR events/39 Champions Tour events
Last Time In Final Group (stroke-play event)	In the final grouping for the second time this year. Was in the last group at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and lost to John Cook in a playoff; In his Champions Tour career, has been in the final grouping six times and won once from this position	2012 Charles Schwab Cup Championship; Has been in final grouping 14 previous times and won eight events from this position; this marks his third time in the final grouping in the last four years at the Toshiba Classic.	In the last grouping on Sunday for the first time since the 1995 NEC World Series of Golf where he eventually finished T6 at Firestone CC
2013 season	Among the top-10 in all three previous appearances; best finish a P2 at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai	One previous appearance; fourth at Mitsubishi Electric Championship	Making his third appearance on the Champions Tour this year and was T27 in the Allianz Championship
Champions Tour Wins	3	8	None; best career finish a T4 at the 2011 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open
PGA TOUR Wins	10, with none in California	15	5
Residence	Paarl, South Africa	LaQuinta, Calif.	Greenwood, Miss.
Did You Know?	Has held a lead/co-lead going into Sunday four times on the Champions Tour and gone on to win once (2010 3M Championship). Earlier this year, he led the Mitsubishi Electric Championship after 36 holes and finished second; Previous best finish at the Toshiba Classic in three appearances was a T12 in 2011.	Has won four official TOUR events in California, including the 2010 Toshiba Classic.	Exemption on the Champions Tour from the Career Victory category ends after this week; was T57 last year at the Toshiba Classic

Here is how the second-round leaders have fared since the start of the event in 1995.

Year	Second-Round Leader/Margin	Winner/Margin
1995	Tom Wargo/132/+1	George Archer/199/+1
1996	Jim Colbert/133/+5	Jim Colbert/201/+2
1997	David Graham/134/+1	Bob Murphy/207/Playoff
1998	Hubert Green/133/+1	Hale Irwin/200/+1
1999	John Jacobs/134/+1	Gary McCord/204/Playoff
2000	Allen Doyle/136/+1	Allen Doyle/136/+1 (36 holes due to rain)
2001	Terry Mauney/130/+1	Jose Maria Canizares/202/Playoff
2002	Hale Irwin/131/+3	Hale Irwin/196/+5
2003	Rodger Davis/129/+2	Rodger Davis/197/+4
2004	Purtzer/Hatalsky/131	Tom Purtzer/198/+1
2005	Mark Johnson/130/+3	Mark Johnson/200/+4
2006	Purtzer/Thorpe/Eastwood/135	Brad Bryant/204/+1
2007	Jay Haas/129/+1	Jay Haas/194/+2
2008	Bernhard Langer/130/+3	Bernhard Langer/199/Playoff
2009	Bernhard Langer/Mark O’Meara/133/E	Eduardo Romero/202/+1
2010	Fred Couples/130/+2	Fred Couples/195/+4
2011	Nick Price/128/+2	Nick Price/196/+1
2012	Mark Calcavecchia/134/+2	Loren Roberts/205/+2
2013	David Frost/129/+1	----------------

-- Sunday's winner will earn 263 Charles Schwab Cup points. Bernhard Langer, the current Charles Schwab Cup leader, is currently T11. Langer has finished among the top 10 in 17 of his last 18 events and has been among the top 3 in his first three touranments of the 2013 season. John Cook, who is currently in second place in the Schwab Cup race, is well back in the Toshiba Classic standings (T35) through 36 holes. Points are only awarded at each event for top-10 finishes and at the conclusion of the season, the player earning the most Schwab Cup points will receive a $1 million payout.

-- Scott Hoch, making just his second appearance in over a year on the Champions Tour, shot a bogey-free 7-under-par 64, the low round of the day by two strokes and his career-best round on the Champions Tour. Hoch had previously shot 65 four times, including in Round 2 of the 2007 Toshiba Classic. Saturday's round moved him up 32 spots in the standings into a T4. After suffering left hand and wrist problems for the better part of the last two years, Hoch made his return to the Champions Tour at the ACE Group Classic last month and finished T20.

-- Defending champion Loren Roberts carded a 1-under 70 to extend a streak of sub-par scores at Newport Beach Country Club to 12 straight rounds. Roberts is eight shots off the pace and in a T22 after 36 holes this year.

-- Newport Beach Country Club played to a field stroke average of 70.272 (-0.728) vs. 71.123 (+0.123) yesterday. Through two rounds, the course has averaged 70.698 compared to last year when the cumulative average after 36 holes was 71.081. Through two rounds this year, there have been 80 scores under par shot compared to just 62 through two rounds last year.

-- Bogey-Free Rounds --
-- Friday (6): David Frost (63), Chien Soon Lu (67), Peter Senior (68), Mark Brooks (68), Wayne Levi (69) and Olin Browne (69)
-- Saturday (9): Scott Hoch (64), Dan Forsman (68), Peter Senior (68), Fred Funk (67), Bernhard Langer (70), Corey Pavin (68), Jeff Sluman (68), Gary Hallberg (70), Mark Mouland (67)

-- Tommy Armour III and Gil Morgan lead the field in fairways hit with 25 out of 28 ... Armour III also leads the field in greens hit in regulation with 30 out of 36, however, he’s ranked T75 in putting with 63 total putts through the first two rounds ... David Frost, the tournament leader, leads the putting stats with 50 putts through the first 36 holes ... Fred Couples leads the field in birdies with 15 for 36 holes.