Darren Clarke moved up the leaderboard with a second round 68 at the American Family Insurance Championship but he lies eight shots off the lead shared by Steve Stricker and Paul Broadhurst.
Nothing happened for Clarke on the front nine but he roared to the clubhouse in 32 thanks to four birdies in seven holes.
After setting the all-time record among all PGA TOUR-sanctioned Tours for most consecutive rounds of par or better (53) in round one (7-under 65), Stricker improved with a bogey-free 8-under 64 in round two to post a share of the round of the day with his co-leader Paul Broadhurst.
In his last three starts prior to this week, Stricker won two PGA TOUR Champions majors (Regions Tradition, KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship) and finished T2 at last week’s Principal Charity Classic and he will be hunting his 15th PGA Tour Champions title in just 58 starts.
“I was trying to make as many birdies as I could, but yeah, two good rounds, came out of the gate playing well today, and birdied the first couple holes, so that’s always a good start, and kept it going on the front. Hit a lot of quality shots on that front nine and made some nice putts.
“All in all, a good round, and the scoring I saw was really low, so I figured it was out there and guys were — I think I saw Miguel at 10-under at one point.
“I’ll be nervous, but you have to embrace it, otherwise it’s just going to get the best of you. I’m looking forward to the challenge, and I’ll have to fight some nerves for sure tomorrow.”
Meanwhile Broadhurst will hope to end Stricker’s great run and notch his sixth seniors win on Sunday after a quiet start to the season where he has registered just two top-10s.
“Yeah, just stayed patient really. I was only level par after 6. Made a really bad bogey down No. 2 where people are making birdies and eagles. Got blocked out with my tee shot and tried to hook it around the trees and just caught it heavy and didn’t carry the rubbish and made a really scruffy 6.
“But I played solid all day and then sort of got it going from 7 in, really. Just started to hole some putts. I missed a few early on.
“Like I said, I stayed patient, and obviously Steve was going mad around the front nine. Didn’t follow that all the way around because the scoreboards are only every other hole on the front nine, but back nine I sort of knew what was going on, and just sort of stuck to the task, really. Try to make it a competition tomorrow because he was getting away from everyone. We don’t want that come Sunday. We want some sort of competitive day tomorrow hopefully.”
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