Darren Clarke, Ben Crane hold three-shot lead after Round 2 at American Family Insurance Championship

Things to Know

• Format: The American Family Insurance Championship is played in a two-man team format. Competing for a $3 million purse, the winning team will share $600,000 ($300,000 per player).
• Round 1: Best ball
• Round 2: Scramble
• Round 3: Best ball

Darren Clarke/Ben Crane, 62-54 – 116 (-29)

• Partnering up for the first time, Clarke and Crane carded the low 18-hole score in American Family Insurance Championship history (17-under 54). The pair birdied 17 of the 18 holes (all except No. 10) in the Scramble format.
  • Previous record: 56 (Steve Stricker/Mario Tiziani, 2025/R2/Scramble)
• Clarke, the 57-year-old American Family Insurance Championship defending co-champion, seeks his sixth win on PGA TOUR Champions (160th start).
  • Last win: 2025 American Family Insurance Championship with partner Thomas Bjørn (Bjørn is recovering from spinal surgery and not in the 2026 field).
  • Clarke is making his fifth event appearance in Madison and his second as a team event.
• Clarke looks to become the second two-time winner of the American Family Insurance Championship, joining Jerry Kelly (2019, 2021).
  • Note: The American Family Insurance Championship was an individual event from 2016 to 2024.
• Making his 10th start of the 2026 season, the Northern Ireland native has two top-10 finishes.
  • Best finish: T3 (Insperity Invitational)
• This is Clarke’s second time leading after the second-round scramble format since the American Family Insurance Championship’s team format debut (2025).
  • Bettered his own 36-hole record score at this event by one stroke after carding 117 in 2025 alongside Bjørn.
• This marks Clarke’s seventh time leading/co-leading entering the final round on PGA TOUR Champions (4-for-6).
  • Is 3-for-5 in 54-hole events, including last year’s American Family Insurance Championship (won)
• Fifty-year-old rookie Crane seeks his first win on PGA TOUR Champions since turning 50 on March 6 (eighth start).
  • Best finish: second (Senior PGA Championship)
• This is Crane’s first time leading/co-leading heading into the final round on PGA TOUR Champions.
• With a win, Crane would snap a winless streak of 11 years, 11 months and 29 days.

Other notes

• The Australian duo of Cameron Percy/Greg Chalmers (second) shot 27 on the back nine on their way to 13-under 58, heading into the final round three strokes behind the leaders at 23-under par. The pair teamed up at last year’s American Family Insurance Championship, finishing T12.
  • Fifty-six-year-old Chalmers (55th start) and 52-year-old Percy (48th start) seek their respective first wins on PGA TOUR Champions.
• Brian Gay/Rory Sabbatini are T3 after shooting 11-under 60, heading back into the Best ball format at 22 under.
  • A win would mark both Sabbatini's and Gay’s first PGA TOUR Champions titles.
• Tournament host Steve Stricker and his partner Mario Tiziani sit T25 at 16-under 126.
• Eighteen-hole leaders Freddie Jacobson/Søren Kjeldsen are T6 at 21-under after posting 62 in Saturday’s Scramble format.