Tom Watson made three bogeys on the back nine but still shot 1-under-par 69 and was tied for the lead with Jeff Maggert and Peter Fowler of Australia after two rounds of the U.S. Senior Open at Del Paso Country Club in Sacramento.
The 65-year-old Watson, the Stanford great who held the first-round lead with a 66, birdied three holes in a bogey-free front nine but made only one birdie coming home, on the 15th hole.
“I don’t have the tools in the toolbox I used to have,” said Watson, who has captured six senior majors, but not the U.S. Senior Open even though he has at least shared the lead in the event four times. “They’re missing. Some of the tools are missing. And so it’s getting more and more difficult for me to compete, but I still feel as if I can somehow get it done.
“To hit a shot under pressure that’s really a good golf shot is why I’m out here. That’s what I like to do. And when I get to the point where I can’t do it or I can’t do it often enough to really satisfy myself, then I won’t be out here.”
Maggert, who won the Regions Tradition last month for the first major of his career, birdied the last four holes to post a 65, while Fowler birdied two of the last three in his 66.
Defending champion Colin Montgomerie of Scotland recorded a second straight 68 and was one stroke behind in a tie for fourth with Bart Bryant, who carded four birdies on the back nine en route to a 65, and Jimmy Carter, who birdied the first two holes and then collected 15 pars and a bogey on the sixth hole in a 69.
Bernhard Langer of Germany, the two two-time Masters champion who has won five Champions Tour majors including the Constellation Senior Players Championship earlier this month, shot a bogey-free 66 and was tied for seventh with Kevin Sutherland (67) of Sacramento and Fresno State, Woody Austin (67), Grant Waite (68) of New Zealand, Kiyoshi Mirota (69) of Japan and Paul Wesselingh (68) of England.
