Lehman 1 Behind Pavin Going into Final Round at Allianz

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Tom Lehman and Corey Pavin have been close friends for more than 20 years. Lehman and his wife, Melissa, are godparents to Pavin's daughter Alexis, and Lehman and Pavin each served as co-captain when the other was the captain of the U.S. team in the Ryder Cup Matches.

They enjoy playing in the same group, which they did on Saturday. Both shot 4-under-par 68's on The Old Course at Broken Sound as Pavin took the 36-hole lead in the Allianz Championship with a two-day total of 134 (10 under). Lehman is alone in second place, one stroke behind, at 135. 

So on Sunday, they will be playing together once again, along with Joe Durant in the final group in the final round of the tournament.

Both Lehman and Pavin will be trying to win this tournament for the second time. Lehman took the title in 2011. Pavin succeeded him as the Allianz champion, winning in 2012 in what has been his only Champions Tour victory thus far. Lehman has won nine times in seven years on the Over-50 Tour (the former University of Minnesota All-American will be 57 on March 7).

"Playing golf with a friend like Tom is always a lot of fun," said Pavin, who is also 56. "But we are both going to be trying to beat each other's brains out."

There wil be quite a few other players trying to do the same thing.

Durant, who shot 66 on Saturday, is two behind Pavin at 136, tied for third with Jeff Sluman. Right behind them is a Gang of 5 tied for fifth at 137. Among them are Billy Andrade, who won three times in 2015, and former two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen. And there is also an eightsome at 138 that includes the reigning Charles Schwab Cup champion -- the Champions Tour Player of the Year -- Bernhard Langer. He's trying for an unprecedented third consecutive Schwab Cup championship this year. 

Pavin was one of the shortest hitters on the PGA Tour for the three decades that he was out there, yet he won 15 times, including one major, the 1995 U.S. Open. His success was a product of his clever shot-making and a marvelous short game. Looking like someone who just stepped out of a Tme Machine, he still uses a bullseye putter, and that was what kept him in the lead over the last few holes of the second round.

An errant drive at the daunting 453-yard, par-4 15th hole forced him to lay up from a bunker with his second shot. But he ended up making an 18-foot putt for his par, and he bailed himself out on the next hole, the 203-yard, par-3 16th, with an 8-footer for par. Pavin closed out his round by making a 6-footer for birdie at the 510-yard, par-5 18th.

Lehman, who was routinely hitting three or four clubs less than Pavin, pulled into a tie for the lead with three straight birdies at the 11th (535 yards, par 4), 12th (401, par 4) and 13th (345, par 4). But he slipped one back when he hit his tee shot into a bunker at the 207-yard, par-3 14th, blasted to 5 feet and missed the par putt from there. 

He stayed within one of Pavin by making a scrambling birdie from the trees on the right at the 18th. 

Being one behind with a round to go could iinstill a feeling of deja vu for Lehman, who was in the same position two weeks ago in the first Champions Tour event of the season, the Mitsubishi Championship in Hawaii. He started the final round one behind another of his longtime pals, Duffy Waldorf, then took the lead and was one ahead with three holes remaining.

But Waldorf made a 15-footer for birdie at the 16th to pull even (Lehman experienced a nasty 270-degree lip-out from about 16 feet on his birdie at the same hole), made a 7-footer for par at the 17th to remain tied, and then drilled a 25-footer for birdie at the 18th to win. Lehman's birdie putt at the 18th from 14 feet was dead on line -- but came up an inch short.

As a result, Waldorf wound up with a one-stroke victory.       

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

Allianz Championship

At The Old Course at Broken Sound

Par 72, 6,807 yards

Boca Raton, Fla. 

Second-round results

1. Corey Pavin                  66-68--134

2. Tom Lehman                67-68--135

T3. Joe Durant                  70-66--136

T3. Jeff Sluman                 69-67--136

T5. Lee Janzen                 69-68--137

T5. Billy Andrade              67-70--137

T5. John Huston               68-69--137

T5. Doug Garwood           72-65--137

T5. Scott Parel                  70-67--137