Chamblee opens two shot lead

Brandel Chamblee changed his irons, and that seemed to change his luck.

Now, the 39-year-old Arizona resident has his third big payday in four tournaments in his sights.

Chamblee shot a 5-under-par 67 Friday to reach 12-under 132 halfway through the Tucson Open, good for a two-shot lead on Steve Pate and Bob Tway.

``The game is fun whether you're playing poorly or playing great,'' said Chamblee, one of the PGA Tour's top 100 money-winners seven straight years. ``But that feeling of being in the hunt is certainly what everybody is looking for.''

Steve Pate shot a 66 and Tway 67 to get into the final field of the tightest Tucson event since 1969. The cut was at 140, and only 73 made it.

``I like my chances,'' Pate said. ``I'm playing fairly steady, nothing spectacular. I don't have it under total control, but as long as you keep driving it straight, you can't mess up out here real badly unless you do something stupid.''

Chris Smith, Loren Roberts, David Peoples, Scott Simpson and first-round leader Michael Allen stayed close to Chamblee at 135.

Andrew Magee, the 1994 champion, and Fred Funk were among 12 players at 136, while Jonathan Byrd and Tripp Isenhour moved into contention -- Byrd with a 64 and Isenhour with a 66 -- to join a 14-player cluster five shots off the lead.

Jim Carter, the 2000 champion, squeezed in at 139, but Garrett Willis, last year's winner, made an early exit at 142.

Chamblee, the 1998 Greater Vancouver Open champion, led the 1999 Sony Open after two rounds. He went on to post seven top-10 finishes through last fall.

In the offseason, he traded in his Callaway X-12 irons for a set of Cleveland's new TA-7s.

``I switched irons really in an effort to start hitting my irons to the caliber that I was hitting my driver,'' Chamblee said. ``There was just a glaring inconsistency there. I was driving it extremely well and not hitting my irons very well.''

He also worked hard on his short game and changed the setup on his putting.

It showed last month, when he led the Bob Hope after a first-round 63, eventually tied for sixth, and was 15th in Phoenix to collect $184,857 from his first two tournaments.

Chamblee missed the cut in Los Angeles last week, but that was only a memory on the 7,109-yard Tucson National course.

With a back-nine start, he birdied four of the first nine holes, including an 8-foot putt on No. 18, an exacting, 465-yard, uphill par-4.

After the turn, Chamblee picked up another birdie on the first par-5 he encountered, then wrapped it up with seven consecutive pars.

Pate also had a run on the back nine with another reverse start.

He reached the green on his first hole, a 501-yard par-5, by using his3-wood twice, chipped within 8 feet from a bunker and sank the putt.

Divots

The tournament is sponsored by Touchstone Energy. ... Chamblee's best season was in 1998, when he won $755,936 for 39th on the list. ... Magee and Carter were the only former champions who made the cut. Craig Stadler (1982), David Frost ('88), Robert Gamez ('90), Gabriel Hjertstedt ('99) and Willis got the weekend off. ... Funk had a 71 to extend his PGA Tour-best streak ofconsecutive rounds at par or better to 32.

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