Second-round Notebook: SAS Championship

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CARY, N.C. -- Five of the top nine players on the leaderboard are looking for their first victories on the Champions Tour, including the leader, Tom Pernice Jr., who is making his debut on the circuit this week. In the previous eight years at the SAS Championship, both D.A. Weibring (2003) and Mark Wiebe (2007) claimed their initial Champions Tour victories at this event and Wiebe's came in his first start on the circuit.

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Leaderboard: Round 2
Round 3 tee times
Scorecard: Pernice
Charles Schwab Cup
Complete coverage
Pernice leads Round 2

• Pernice takes a lead into the final round of a TOUR-sanctioned event for the first time since last year's AT&T National on the PGA TOUR. In 2008, at Congressional Country Club, Pernice led by one stroke over Steve Stricker after 54 holes and eventually tied for ninth. His overall record when leading or co-leading going into the last round of a PGA TOUR event is 0-4.

• Pernice is bidding to become the third player this year to win in his debut on the Champions Tour. Tom Lehman won with Bernhard Langer as his partner at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf and Michael Allen claimed the Senior PGA Championship. Before this year, the last time the Champions Tour had multiple players win in their debuts was in 1980 when three players (Don January, Roberto De Vicenzo and Arnold Palmer) did it.

• So far in 2009, 13 of 20 winners have come from the last grouping on Sunday. Also, in the first 20 events this year, only seven players who led or shared the lead heading into the final round have gone on to win, including Jay Haas last week at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. In the previous eight SAS Championships, four second-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win, with Mark Wiebe being the last to do so in 2007.

• Pernice is the only player in the field who had not made a bogey through 36 holes. The last player to go through an event bogey free and win the tournament was Fred Funk at the 2007 Turtle Bay Championship.

• In six of the previous eight years at the SAS Championship, a player with a first name of Tom has finished first or second in the event. The only two years it didn't happen were 2001 and 2007.

• These three players will be in the last group on Sunday for the first time in their Champions Tour careers. ...

• A total of 315 Charles Schwab Cup points will go to the winner of the SAS Championship on Sunday. Fred Funk (T29) currently leads Loren Roberts (T29) by only 57 points, but both players will need good final rounds to add to their Schwab Cup totals this year. At the end of the official season, the player with the most Schwab Cup points will earn a $1 million payout.

• Olin Browne's 6-under 66 was the best round of the day and moved him up 36 spots into a tie for 10th.

• Saturday's scoring average dropped from 71.538 to 70.935. After 45 players posted rounds below par yesterday, 53 players had sub-par rounds today.

This and That: Funk has missed just one fairway through 36 holes -- 29 of 30 (96.67%). ... Nick Price has hit 31 of 36 greens in regulation (86.1%). ... Cochran has averaged 25 putts after two rounds. ... Mark McNulty withdrew before the start of his second round with a bad knee.