Reid continues good form
There’s no better time to get your second win than the week after your first. Especially if you are Mike Reid.
A week after earning his first Champions Tour title, Reid fired a five-under-par 66 and has a two-shot lead after Saturday’s second round of the $1.5m (€1.2m) Allianz Championship.
The winner in a playoff at last week’s Senior PGA Championship, Reid carded four birdies an eagle against just one bogey to move to seven-under 135. He is ahead of a quartet that includes first-round co-leader Tom Jenkins, who followed an opening 65 with a one-over 72.
Last week, Reid was three strokes down with a hole to play but eagled 18 to get in a play-off and edged Jerry Pate and Dana Quigley with a birdie on the first playoff hole. On Saturday, he vaulted from four-strokes back in a tie for 13th to the lead by matching the second-lowest score of the round.
“I thought if I could shoot a 67, I could move up,” Reid said.
“I’m very happy with my score.”
After posting the biggest victory of his career, it does not appear that Reid is suffering from any post-major hangover. His second round was his eighth consecutive under par and he did not have a score higher than four on his scorecard.
“I knew my game was pretty sound, but I thought that focusing would be a challenge,” Reid said.
“Once I got in a couple of holes on Friday, I started to feel like my mind wasn’t wandering.”
The 57-year-old Jenkins, the runner-up here last year, is tied with Bob Gilder, Morris Hatalsky and Bruce Fleisher at 137.
Gilder, the 2002 winner here, jump started his round before it even got underway, switching his putting style for the first time in six years, from cross-handed to a claw grip.
The switch worked for Gilder, who vaulted himself into contention with a round of 66 that included just one bogey. He had five bogeys Friday.
“My experience with cross-handed has been very up and down,” Gilder said.
“It can change from one putt to the next. It can change from one day to the next and I’ve never ever been very comfortable. I went to the putting green last night and put the claw on it a little bit to see how it worked today.”
Defending champion DA Weibring, who opened with a 65 last year en route to a three-shot triumph over Jenkins, fired a bogey-free 67 and is tied for sixth at four-under 138.
The low round of the day was carded by Senior British Open champion Pete Oakley, who carded a 65. He jumped up 50 spots into a tie for 10th.
