Langer, Sauers share lead heading into final day at SAS Championship

CARY, N.C. — Bernhard Langer birdied three of the final four holes Saturday for a 5-under 67 and a share of the SAS Championship lead with Gene Sauers.

A day after nearly shooting his age with a 62 to match Sauers and Tom Lehman for the first-round lead, the 61-year-old Langer kept pace with Sauers at 15-under 129.

Langer had six birdies and a bogey at Prestonwood Country Club, the tree-lined layout softened by heavy rain Thursday from Hurricane Michael. He won the Insperity Invitational in May in Texas for his 37th PGA TOUR Champions victory.

"It's very important to get back in the rhythm and hit some good shots, which I settled down after I caught a not so good patch in the middle of the round," Langer said. "Started off great with two birdies, actually three birdies in the first five and then didn't get up-and-down on 7, the par 5, or hit a bad second shot. It was reachable for me. Ran into a bad patch there where I just struggled with my iron game mostly, but then pulled it all together toward the end."

Sauers birdied two of the last three holes.

"I just told myself, 'Same thing today,'" Sauers said. "I was just kind of taking right aim at it and just playing my game. The putts, it was a little tougher today. Of course, I didn't hit it as close as I did the day before, obviously."

He won the 2016 U.S. Senior Open for his lone victory on the 50-and-over tour.

Lehman had a 70 to drop three strokes behind his playing partners in the final event for the top 72 players to qualify for the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.

"Gene played great. Tom played really good earlier and then didn't finish quite as strong," Langer said. "There's a lot of good players out here, you've just got to keep the pedal down."

Jerry Kelly was 11 under after a 67.

Bernhard Langer, 62-67 – 129 (-15)

• After ending his first round with birdies on nine of his last 10 holes, Langer opened his second round with birdies on Nos. 1 and 2. He closed with birdies on Nos. 15, 17 and 18 and is 15-under after a second-round 67.
• This is the fifth time he has opened with a 129 total, and the first since the 2017 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. His low opening 36-hole score is 127 (2007 Insperity Invitational).
• This will be the fourth time Langer plays in Sunday's final group this season. The most recent instance was at the Insperity Invitational in May, and he carded a final-round 70 en route to his 37th career victory.
• Entering this week, Langer has been a leader/co-leader entering the final round 37 times, and he has gone on to win 22 times. In 2018, he is 1-for-2.
  • Solo leader: 18-for-27 (Last: Won, 2018 Insperity Invitational)
  • Co-leader: 4-for-10 (Last: T2, 2018 Mitsubishi Electric Classic)
• Langer won in 2012 and is one of eight past champions in this week’s field. Should he go on to win, the SAS Championship would be the ninth tournament he has won multiple times.
• Langer, a four-time winner of the Charles Schwab Cup, is currently No. 4 in the standings. With a win, Langer would likely move to No. 1, and it would be the third straight season he begins the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs atop the standings. (If Langer wins, Scott McCarron would need to finish solo second to remain No. 1.)

Gene Sauers, 62-67 – 129 (-15)

• After Langer rolled in a birdie putt on No. 18, Sauers matched him with a birdie of his ownto create a two-way tie for the lead at 15-under. His 36-hole total of 129 is a new personal best on PGA TOUR Champions (Previous: 14-under 130, 2017 3M Championship).
• Sauers leads the field in greens in regulation (33 of 36), and this season he ranks sixth in that category (73.35%).
• This marks the sixth time Sauers will begin the final round as a leader/co-leader. He has yet to win when he's in this position. Most recently, he was part of a three-way tie through 36 holes at the 2017 3M Championship; he carded a final-round 66 and lost to Paul Goydos in a playoff.
• Sauers will play in Sunday's final group for the second time this season. He was T2 through 36 holes at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, and he finished T9 after carding an even-par 72 in the final round.
• Sauers has two runner-up finishes and seven top-10s this season, and he’s No. 15 in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• When Sauers was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, he spent four days at a hospital at nearby Duke University. After the Duke specialist stopped his skin from burning, Sauers spent seven weeks at a hospital in Savannah. He returned to competition in 2011 and joined PGA TOUR Champions in 2012, and in 2016 he won the U.S. Senior Open. In 2017, Sauers was named the recipient of the PGA TOUR Courage Award.

Second-Round Lead/Scoring Notes

• Langer’s and Sauers’ 129 totals are tied for the second-lowest opening 36-hole scores this season. Kenny Perry opened with an 18-under 126 (66-60) en route to a victory at the 3M Championship.
• The 15-under 129 scores set a new 36-hole tournament scoring record. The previous low was 131, set by Mark Wiebe (2007) and Russ Cochran (2010).
• In the 17-year history of the SAS Championship, 10 second-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win, including Colin Montgomerie in 2017.
• So far this year, a leader/co-leader heading into the final round has gone on to win nine out of 23 tournaments.

Tom Lehman, 62-70 – 132 (-12)

• Lehman made his third birdie of the day on No. 9 to take a one-shot lead. He gave it back with bogeys on Nos. 10 and 11, and he settled for a 2-under 70 after a back-nine 38.
• Lehman, winner of the 2015 SAS Championship, will play in Sunday's final group for the second time in his last three starts. He was one of three co-leaders after 36 holes at The Ally Challenge, and he went on to finish T3 after shooting 70 on Sunday.
• A two-time winner of the Charles Schwab Cup (2011, 2012), Lehman has eight top-10s this year and is currently 16th in the Charles Schwab Cup.

Other Notes

• Through two rounds, Jerry Kelly has six birdies on the six par 5s at Prestonwood Country Club. He is fourth at 11-under after shooting 67 on Saturday. A three-time winner on PGA TOUR Champions, Kelly is one of seven players that has led the Charles Schwab Cup this season, and he is currently No. 3 in the standings.
• After opening with a bogey for the second day in a row, Scott Parel made six birdies on the back nine and he is fifth at 9-under after a second-round 67. Winner of the Boeing Classic, Parel is one of five first-time winners on Tour this season, and he is currently No. 7 in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• Doug Garwood has carded back-to-back rounds of 68 and is in a four-way tie for sixth at 8-under. He is the only player bogey-free through 36 holes, and dating back to last year’s SAS Championship, he has played his last 44 holes bogey-free. Garwood won in 2016 and finished T2 last year, and he is a combined 37-under in his last eight rounds at Prestonwood Country Club (67.38 average).
• A day after hitting just 8 of 18 greens in regulation, Billy Andrade carded the day’s best round, a 7-under 65, and he is T6 at 8-under. It was his best second-round score of the season, and his best score in 14 rounds at Prestonwood Country Club. He has eight top-10s this year and is currently 28th in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• Also tied for sixth are Miguel Angel Jiménez and Kenny Perry. Jimenez won two majors this season and led the Charles Schwab Cup for four weeks, while Perry won the 3M Championship, his 10th career win on PGA TOUR Champions.
• In his first tournament as the Charles Schwab Cup leader, Scott McCarron is T32 at 1-under.
• Defending champion Colin Montgomerie carded a second-round 69 and is T21 at 4-under.

Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs Implications

• The 78-player field includes 19 players outside the top-72 of the Charles Schwab Cup standings. After this week, the top-72 players will advance to the third-annual Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, which begins next week at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic in Richmond, Virginia.
• Gibby Gilbert III (85th entering this week) is T21 at 4-under, and he is the player with the best chance to earn the Wildcard, which would go to a player who posts a top-10 but finishes outside the top-72 on the money list after the SAS Championship.
• Should a player earn the Wildcard, he would bump the 72nd-ranked player out of the Playoffs. Entering the week, Michael Allen was 72nd ($131,843), but he is not in this week’s field. Currently, Dan Forsman (T56/+3) is projected to finish the season No. 72 in the standings.