• Defending champion John Huston finished off a 7-under-par 65 in the morning and then added a 67 in the afternoon to take a one-stroke lead overBrad Faxon into the final round of the Dick's Sporting Goods Open. Upon resumption of his first round at 7:30 a.m., Huston pitched in from 30 yards for an eagle at the short par-4 16thhole, his second eagle of the round. He then waited two hours to begin Round 2 but responded with six birdies and a bogey in the afternoon to move into the lead. Faxon, a two-time winner at En-Joie on the PGA TOUR who is making his first appearance in the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, shook off a double bogey at No. 10 with eight birdies, including four straight on the front nine, to post 66 in the afternoon. Faxon closed out his first round in the morning with three birdies over seven holes for a 67.
• Playing in the final grouping for the first time since last year's SAS Championship...Bidding to join Tom Lehman (Regions Tradition) as the second player to successfully defend a title on the Champions Tour in 2012. Seeking to join Fred Funk as the second player this year to win a PGA TOUR/Champions Tour event at the same venue. Funk won the Insperity Championship earlier this season at The Woodlands, the venue for his 1992 Shell Houston Open title. . Open qualified on Tuesday and is seeking to become the first open qualifier to win on the Champions Tour since Rod Spittleat the 2010 AT&T Championship
• Tomorrow's winner will earn 270 Charles Schwab Cup points. Tom Lehman, the current Schwab Cup leader, is T7 through 36 holes this week. Bernhard Langer is currently in second place in the standings, 104 points back of Lehman. He is T13 after two rounds this week.. At the end of the official season, the player earning the most Charles Schwab Cup points will receive a $1 million payout.
• The Dick's Sporting Goods Open champion has shot 65 on Sunday the last two years and the average Sunday score by the eventual champion in tournament history is 65.6
• Second-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win the Dick's Sporting Goods Open twice and not sinceEduardo Romero in 2008. Overall on the 2012 Champions Tour, players leading/co-leading heading into the final round have won 11 times in the previous 17 tournaments.
• Jeff Hart's 66 in Round 2 was a nine-stroke improvement over his opening-round score and moved him up 40 places in the standings, the biggest move from the first round to the second... 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.
• Yesterday's suspension of play was the fourth on the Champions Tour in 2012 and the first since the Senior PGA Championship in late May. It was the first time since the first round of the 2009 event that the Dick's Sporting Goods Open was delayed.
• Jim Thorpe was disqualified from the tournament when he failed to show for the resumption of his first round this morning at 7:30 a.m. Under the Rules of Golf, there is a five-minute window for a player once a round resumes and Thorpe wasn't able to make it back to the course in the allotted time.
• Nick Price withdrew during the round with a sore left elbow. Price was out for three months with ligament damage in his left elbow and returned at the 3M Championship two weeks ago.
• Hale Irwin made his 394th appearance on the Champions Tour this week and now has 1,053 combined-career (PGA TOUR/Champions Tour) starts, moving him into a tie for fourth place with Arnold Palmer on the all-time list.Miller Barber is the all-time leader among players with more than 1,000 combined-career starts, totaling 1,292 tournaments.
• Bogey-free Rounds:
R1 (5): Kenny Perry (65), Fred Funk (67), Brad Faxon (67), Andy Bean (69), Corey Pavin (70)R2 (5): Brad Bryant (67), Peter Senior (67), Willie Wood (68), Bill Glasson (69), Joey Sindelar (71)
• Scoring Averages:
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• Brad Faxon's 13 birdies through two rounds leads all players...John Huston is the only player with two eagles and they both came in the first round...Willie Wood, Fred Funk, Peter Senior and local favorite Joey Sindelar one bogey this week...Fred Funk and Jeff Sluman have both his 25 of 28 fairways (89.29%)...Bernhard Langer has hit 33 of 36 greens in regulation...Brad Faxon has just 49 putts after 36 holes (1.538).
