Oahu, HI – Bill Glasson fired a 7-under 65 on Saturday to move four strokes clear of the field after two rounds of the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship.
Glasson, who will go for his first tour win on Sunday, finished 36 holes at 13-under-par 131. His last PGA Tour win was in 1997 in Las Vegas.
First-round leader Peter Senior managed a 2-under 70 in the second round. He shares second place at minus-9 with Mark McNulty (68).
Corey Pavin overcame a 2-stroke penalty to shoot 5-under 67 at Kapolei Golf Course. He was joined in fourth place at 8-under-par 136 by David Frost (67) and Willie Wood (68).
Glasson got up and down for birdie on the first and followed with a 5-foot birdie putt on the second to move into the lead at 8-under. He parred the next six holes and was joined atop the leaderboard by McNulty and Senior.
At the ninth, Glasson drained a 7-footer for birdie. He made it two in a row at No. 10, where he converted a 15-foot birdie putt to move two clear of the field.
Glasson poured in a long birdie effort at the 12th, but he stumbled to a bogey on the 13th. That was his first bogey of the week.
The 7-time winner on the PGA Tour birdied the par-5 14th and made it two in a row as his 6-foot birdie try found the bottom of the cup at the 15th.
Glasson got up and down for birdie on the 17th to push his lead to four. He parred the last to take the 36-hole lead for the first time in his Champions Tour career.
"Finishing the way I did is going to help for tomorrow. I thought I hit a good shot on 18, but I think the wind switched on us. We all were short, so we were all fooled a little bit. The birdie on 17 was big," Glasson said in a television interview.
"I need to hit some fairways. That's my thing. My irons have kept me in the game. My driver is not liking me right now."
Senior tripped to a bogey on the third, but atoned for that mistake with a birdie on No. 4. He birdied the seventh before making four straight pars. Senior stumbled to a bogey on the 12th, but followed with birdies at 13 and 14 to move to minus-9. He ended there after four straight pars to close out his round.
"I scrapped it around. I kept missing the fairway by a yard or two and the secret of this course is that you've got to come in from the fairway," Senior said on television. "I hit a couple of good shots coming in, but the way I played I'm pretty happy with a couple under (par)."
McNulty had three birdies in the first six holes to grab a share of the lead. He parred four in a row from the seventh, then faltered to a double-bogey on the par-4 11th.
After two more pars, McNulty birdied three of four holes from the 14th to grab a share of second.
NOTES: Pavin was penalized for hitting his ball during a practice putt on the fringe, and then not putting the ball back to its' original position...Tom Lehman, who tops the race for the Charles Schwab Cup, managed a 2-under 70 and fell into a tie for ninth at minus-6...Tour money leader Michael Allen also shot 70 and he improved 15 spots into a share of 38th at 1-under-par 143.