Lehman Jumps in Front at Senior PGA Championship


Tom Lehman carded a stellar 5-under 67 to take the halfway lead at the Senior PGA Championship. The $2.75 million major - the second in a week on the Champions Tour - began Thursday at the difficult Pete Dye Course in French Lick, Ind.

The 56-year-old Lehman, an eight-time winner with three majors on the Champions Tour including the 2010 Senior PGA, carded six birdies and a bogey for the low round of the tournament. The Minnesotan heads into Saturday at 4-under 140, a stroke ahead of defending champion Colin Montgomerie, who shot a 69, and Brian Henninger, who matched Lehman's 67.

Following the opening round when only one player, Japan's Massy Kuramoto, broke par with a 71, the course - named after the famed designer and Indiana resident Pete Dye - was more amenable to scoring Friday.

After starting with a 78, Jesper Parnevik did some calculations and sent a humorous tweet before the second round that read: "If you took the worst score on every hole yesterday, the score would be 128 . . . made me feel better!" The 50-year-old Swede posted a 1-under 71 in the second round.

Two strokes back is Mexico's Esteban Toledo, who carded a fine 68, while Kuramoto shot a 72 and is the only other player under par through 36 holes at 143.

Tied for sixth at even-par 144 are France's Jean Francois Remesy (72), Woody Austin (71) and Australia's Peter Fowler (67).

Austin, a four-time PGA Tour winner, told PGA.com that he could have gone lower if he'd been better able to negotiate the greens. "I missed three putts under 3 feet today," the 51-year-old Floridian lamented. "I have a case of the yips, so it could have been a lot better.

"I've really got to shore that up," added Austin, who's playing in the Senior PGA for the first time. "I've hit a lot of good shots in two days but I can't keep missing those putts. Because on this golf course, you need to take advantage and I should be taking advantage but I'm throwing it away. Still, if you would have told me I was even-par after two rounds, that's good because this place is crazy."

Tied for ninth at 145 are Americans Scott Verplank and Paul Goydos, who shot 72 and 70, respectively, and Germany's Bernhard Langer (72). Eight players are tied for 12th at 146.

The cut was set at a whopping 8-over 152. Among those heading home are major champions Jerry Pate, Hale Irwin and Lee Janzen. Irwin, the all-time winner on the Champions Tour with 45 victories, started off promisingly with a 75. But the 69-year-old struggled to an 80 on the Dye course.

Somewhat surprisingly, considering the difficulty of the venue and the fact that their normal duties are focused elsewhere and not on high-level competition, 10 club pros - Jerry Haas, Kirk Henfeld, Rick Schuller, Gene Fieger, Lee Rinker, Eddie Kirby, John DalCorobbo, Jim Estes, Sonny Skinner and Todd McCorkle - all made the cut. Haas, the brother of veteran touring pro Jay Haas, is tied for 20th with his sibling at 3-over 147.

Unfortunately, the two Haases won't be paired together in the third round. "I saw his name up there and then he slipped," Jay Haas told PGA.com. "I was hoping I could catch him and we would be in the same group (on Saturday)."

The duo each shot 74s but, because Kiyoshi Murota finished with the same score in between the brothers, they aren't able to play together. "That would have been nice," Jerry Haas said. "I was watching him and saw there was one guy between us."

For all the scores, visit http://www.pga.com/seniorpga/scoring/leaderboard.