Weather: Over an inch of rain fell Friday evening as a cool front moved through the area overnight. Temperatures were in the low-80s on Saturday with winds from the WNW at 10-20 mph.
BLAINE, Minn. -- David Peoples carded 10 birdies, including six straight on the front nine, and posted a 62 to surge to a three-stroke lead over Argentina's Eduardo Romero after 36 holes of the 2012 3M Championship. Peoples' round was his best score on the Champions Tour and eclipsed the old tournament record as the best second-round score in event history. Peoples' 62 today also matched his lowest round on the PGA TOUR. After making eagle to end his first round on Friday, Peoples started on Saturday three strokes off the lead. He opened with two pars, but then began his run of birdies on No. 3. After turning in 30, one shot off the front-nine record, he then added four more birdies on the back nine.
• Peoples' streak of six straight birdies on the front nine (Nos. 3-8) today, matched not only the best birdie streak of the season on the Champions Tour but also the best run of birdies in event history. Fred Couples (Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic), Mark Wiebe (Principal Charity Classic) and Bob Tway (Montreal Championship) all made six straight birdies during a Champions Tour event earlier this year. In the second round of the 2006 3M Championship, Craig Stadler made six straight birdies (Nos. 2-7).
• Peoples is not only bidding to win his first official TOUR event since the 1992 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic, he 's also trying to become the second player in the last three years to win his first Champions Tour title at this event (David Frost, 2010). Coming into this week, he's gone 303 starts on the PGA TOUR and 50 appearances on the Champions Tour since his last victory. Peoples started this week as the first alternate into the event and got in on Monday afternoon whenRuss Cochran withdrew with a back injury.
• Peoples is also trying to become the fifth first-time winner on the 2012 Champions Tour and the third in the last five events. Corey Pavin (Allianz Championship), Roger Chapman (Senior PGA Championship and later the U.S. Senior Open), Joe Daley (Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship) and Kirk Triplett (Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach) are the other first-time winners this year.
• Peoples' three-stroke advantage after 36 holes this week matches the largest 36-hole lead in 3M Championship history. In 2005, Tom Purtzer was up by three strokes after two rounds and hung on to win by one. One year after that, Curtis Strange was up by three strokes after two rounds, but David Edwards rallied from three back to win. In 2008, R.W. Eaks was up by three strokes after 36 holes and cruised to a six-stroke triumph.
• Prior to today, Peoples had not been leading/co-leading heading into the final round of a TOUR event since he was tied for the lead through three rounds of the 1990 Buick Southern Open and eventually finished T4.
• Tomorrow's winner will earn 270 Charles Schwab Cup points. Tom Lehman, the current Schwab Cup leader, is T16 through 36 holes this week. Bernhard Langer is currently in third place in the standings, 367 points back of Lehman. He is T6 after two rounds this week and could cut into Lehman's lead. At the end of the official season, the player earning the most Charles Schwab Cup points will receive a $1 million payout.
• Second-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win the 3M Championship 11 times in the previous 19 years and the last time it happened was David Frost in 2010. Overall on the 2012 Champions Tour, players leading/co-leading heading into the final round have won 11 times in the previous 16 tournaments.
• Tomorrow will mark Eduardo Romero's first appearance in a final grouping since the 2009 Dick's Sporting Goods Open (T15). His last of five career victories on the Champions Tour came at the 2009 Toshiba Classic and he's gone 58 events since last winning. This week is also his first appearance in the 3M Championship.
• Bob Tway and Lance Ten Broeck made the biggest moves of the day. Both players jumped 35 spots in the standings after carding 7-under 65s. For Ten Broeck, the 36-hole leader at the recent U.S. Senior Open at Indianwood, the round moved him from T41 into a T6. Tway's 7-under score today was 12 strokes better than his first round and moved him from T78 into T43.
• After three bogey-free rounds yesterday (Gil Morgan (65), Willie Wood (67) and David Frost (67)), there were 11 today (David Peoples (62), Joe Daley (67), Joel Edwards (69). Lance Ten Broeck (65), Loren Roberts (66), Jeff Sluman (69), Don Berry (69), Steve Lowery (69) Jim Thorpe (68), Bob Tway (65) and Bob Gilder (69)).
• Tom Kite and Peter Senior both have made 15 birdies through the first 36 holes this week...Tom Lehman, David Peoples and Eduardo Romero have all played the four par-5s through three rounds in a cumulative 7-under...Larry Nelson and Joe Daley have totaled just 52 putts...Steve Pate has 34 of 36 greens in regulation...Nine different players have missed just one fairway off the tee through two rounds.
• After 49 players broke par in Round 1, there were 51 scores below par in the second round. Today's stroke average for the field was 70.667 compared to 70.765 on Friday. The par-3 17th hole yielded just six birdies and was thd most difficult on Saturday (3.235). The par-5 3rd hole played as the easiest (4.531), giving up one eagle and 40 birdies.
