Hale Irwin, the
Senior PGA Tour's leading money-winner and winner of five tournaments this year,
had seven birdies and an eagle in a course-record 63 today and was one of six
players tied for the lead after two rounds of the Bank One Championship.
With the six-way tie for
the lead and five others within two strokes, Tom Watson, one of those in the logjam
at the top, had a simple message regarding the final round of the 54-hole tournament.
"You better
shoot low, sheriff," Watson said after making a 35-foot birdie putt on the final
hole to get to 10 under. "There is not going to be a 68 or 69 that's going to
win this tournament tomorrow."
That Watson shot a 5-under 67 in the second round to be among the leaders of his
second Senior PGA Tour event was just one of many stories at Bent Tree Country
Club on Saturday.
Watson and Irwin were tied with Gil Morgan, David Graham, Jim Colbert and first-round
leader Albert Giannone.
Morgan, who won last week in Indianapolis and has three wins this year, had eight
birdies and no bogeys en route to a 64.
Graham, who lives a mile from Bent Tree and is a former member, shot a 67 for
the second day in a row.
Colbert, who is looking for his second win since he had surgery for prostate cancer
in 1997, shot a 68 to go with Friday's 66.
Giannone, who was a mail carrier and newspaper delivery man in Argentina before
qualifying for the Senior PGA Tour last year, followed his first-round 64 with
a 70.
"You're playing
along and think you can make a couple of birdies to hit the lead and all of a
sudden you're two or three behind," said Graham, who had a house on Bent Tree
Country Club's sixth hole for 15 years. "The way the golf course is playing, someone
two or three shots behind can get hot and shoot 62 or 63 to win this tournament
tomorrow."
One shot
behind the six leaders at 9 under were Bud Allin, who shot a 2-under 70 while
wearing a sandal on one foot and a golf shoe on the other for the second day in
a row, and Bruce Summerhays, who shot a 67.
Allen Doyle, who is third on the money list, shot a 65 and is two shots back along
with 62-year-old Charles Coody, who also shot a 65, and Jose Maria Canizares,
who had a 68.
"I
think it's going to be at least 15-under that wins it," Morgan said. "Someone
will have to shoot 5-, maybe 6-under to be in the hunt tomorrow."
