Saturday’s second round at the AT&T Championship produced more perfect South Texas weather, more perfect course conditions at the TPC-San Antonio AT&T Canyons course and one perfect golfer, Fred Couples, who romped to a seven-shot lead with a tournament record-tying score of 62.
Couples tied his career low on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour and now holds the largest second round lead on the Champions Tour since 1998, with a 36-hole total of 127, 17-under-par, another tournament record.
“You don’t get leads like this very often,” said Couples, who is looking for his second Champions Tour victory in 2011, after winning four times last year.
“I certainly have the advantage by a lot. 12 birdies today is a lot of birdies, but I still have to play tomorrow. I remember one year at Bay Hill I had an eight-shot lead on the last day and it was down to three by the eighth hole.”
Through two rounds, Mark Calcavecchia sits at second at 66-134, 10-under-par, and Nick Price is alone at third with a 69-135.
“I think it’s a battle for second, I’ll put it that way,” Calcavecchia said. “I think I’ll try to throw Fred off on the first hole by asking him if he knows what the trophy looks like and what he is going to say in his victory speech.”
Price, a former Texas Open champion, was doing an interview when he got the news that Couple shot 62 for the day, with a double bogey on the par-4 fourth hole.
“A 62 with a double bogey,” Price exclaimed. “Why are you talking to me? We are all chasing Fred, but you can never say never.”
In the history of the AT&T Championship, the only two golfers to shoot a 62 were Fred Gibson and Gil Morgan, both at Oak Hills Country Club. Neither of them won the tournament, but they didn’t have the playing background of Couples or take a seven-shot lead into the final day.
Couples had 12 one-putts to accompany his 12 birdies Saturday and had a total of 11 putts on the back nine.
“When I putt well, I think I’m as good of a putter as anybody,” Couples said.
Calcavecchia, who is second to Tom Lehman in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points standing, highlighted his round on the par-4 18th hole. He put his drive in the rocks to the left of the fairway and had to call for a ruling. Then, he knocked his second shot twenty feet left of the pin and rolled in his birdie putt.
Price birdied holes 15-16 to earn his solo third place standing, while John Cook, Peter Senior, Tom Lehman and Scott Simpson all shot 67 to tie for fourth place at 136, nine shots behind Couples.
DID YOU KNOW?
Both Fred Couples and Mark Calcavecchia have a close, personal relationship with their caddies. Couples’ caddie is his girlfriend, Midge Elo Trammell, who is from San Antonio, and Calcavecchia’s wife, Brenda, handles caddie duties.
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