Bruce Fleisher shot out of the pack with a 9-under-par 63 today to tie David Lundstrom for the second-round lead of the BellSouth Senior Classic.

Fleisher played his way into contention for a fourth victory in his rookie season on the Senior PGA Tour with nine birdies and no bogeys. He and Lundstrom have two-day totals of 134, 10 under par.

The 63 is one stroke off the course record for the 6,783-yard Springhouse Golf Club set by Dave Stockton in 1994 and matched by Isao Aoki last year.

"I might have hit the ball better yesterday," said Fleisher, who won his first two senior events and added a third victory in April before cooling off the last five weeks. "I started making putts and that's really the difference."

Lundstrom, who last fall was fighting to keep his tour card in qualifying school, shot a 4-under-par 68 for his share of the lead.

Jim Thorpe shot a 67 and headed a group of four players at 9-under, one shot behind the leaders. First-round leader Jim Albus bogeyed two of the last five holes in a round of 70. The 61-year-old Al Geiberger continued his solid play with a 68, and 1997 BellSouth champion Gil Morgan also shot a 68.

Three other players were two strokes back at 8-under. DeWitt Weaver made the biggest move with a 65 that included two eagles and five birdies to offset a double bogey. Vicente Fernandez shot a 67, and Hugh Baiocchi had his second round of 68.

Bruce Summerhays was alone at minus-7 after shooting a 66.

Six players were at 6-under, four shots back: Dana Quigley (67), Gary McCord (68), Tom Jenkins (69), Hale Irwin (70), Jay Sigel (70) and John Mahaffey (71).

Fourteen players were within four shots of the lead.

"It'll take 15 or 16 under to win," said Thorpe, who birdied the last three holes to get within a stroke. "My wife tells me just to play solid and make some checks, but I want to win."

Lundstrom offset two bogeys with six birdies.

"I scraped out pars the last couple of holes, but other than that I played pretty well," he said.

Lundstrom, a journeyman on the PGA tour who ran a printing business and a golf range before finding a new life on the senior circuit, admitted he expects to be "a little jumpy" playing in the final threesome Sunday.

"It takes awhile to get used to every shot meaning something," he said, but added that, after the pressure of qualifying school, playing in the final group is relatively easy.

"Q-school is terrible," he said. "This isn't that serious."

Geiberger shot in the 60s for the fourth time in his last five rounds. He continued to answer a lot of questions about his famous round of 59, which came almost exactly 22 years ago 200 miles to the west in Memphis.

"It's nice to be back in Tennessee," he said. "People here like to talk about it. I've always thought nobody wants to hear about a round of golf except the person who shot it, but people like to hear about the 59."

AP