Bernhard Langer strengthened his bid to land back-to-back Senior Major Championships by taking a two stroke lead at the halfway mark of the US Senior Open.
The German, who won The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard last Sunday, fired a second round 68 at Sahalee Country Club to move to three under par 137.
Tommy Armour III (68), John Cook (68) and J.R. Roth (66) are tied for second place on one under par, while local Seattle favourite Fred Couples is a further shot back on level par along with Tom Watson, Loren Roberts and Michael Allen.
Langer, a two-time Masters Champion, has won an incredible 12 titles in the last two-and-a-half years since becoming a Senior golfer and is looking to add the US Senior Open crown to his maiden Senior Major success at Carnoustie last week.
The 52 year old, who currently leads the European Senior Tour Order of Merit, is the only player to be under par on both days of the Championship.
His two under par 68 included two birdies, two bogeys and an eagle on the 545 yard par five 11th hole.
“I hit it straight and made some putts,” said Langer. “It’s always the same, isn’t it? Just different venues, different conditions, but it’s always the same idea. Hit it where you’re looking and try to play smart, attack the holes that can be attacked and play smart on the other ones.”
Langer opened his round after a two-hour fog delay with a six-foot birdie on the 403-yard first hole, but it looked like he was going to give it back when he dumped his second shot into the water on the 508-yard, par-5 second hole.
But in a preview of what was to come later, he made a great par save with an up-and-down from 80 yards. Bogeys on the third and ninth holes left Langer one over for the day but he got back in the groove on the 11th hole with a 30-footer for eagle and followed that up with great par-saves, first on 12th and then the 15th when a pushed drive hit the trees and left him in deep rough with a bad angle to the green. His approach caught the left bunker, and he blasted out to 15 feet below the hole and made the par-saving putt.
“So that was pretty key,” he said about the putt that he followed with a mild fist pump.
A perfectly played six-iron on the 205-yard, par-three 17th left him flag-high with a nine-footer for birdie.
For Couples, the biggest roar came when he drained a 30-footer for birdie on the ninth hole to jump to one under for the championship. Some shaky iron play on the 12th and 13th holes, however, led to bogeys and it took a birdie on the 16th to get back to even.
“Today was a pretty good round, but I’m not hitting any irons really, really good, I will say that,” said the three-time Champions Tour winner playing in his first U.S. Senior Open.
“I’m going to have to start playing a heck of a lot better to shoot under par,” he said.
Langer’s fellow European Senior Tour Members Eduardo Romero and Peter Senior are tied for 16th after rounds of 72 and 70 respectively.
