Endicott, NY – Defending champion John Huston carded a 5- under 67 in the second round Saturday to take a 1-stroke lead after 36 holes of the Dick's Sporting Goods Open.
Huston finished two rounds at 12-under-par 132. He will go for his second Champions Tour title on Sunday at En-Joie Golf Club.
Brad Faxon moved into second place at 11-under-par 133 after a second-round 66. Willie Wood (68) and Peter Senior (67) are two strokes back at minus-9.
The first and second rounds were both completed on Saturday. The first round had been suspended for the day on Friday due to unplayable course conditions after storms soaked the course, which was already saturated from rain earlier in the week.
Huston started his second round with birdies on the first two par-5s. At the third, he chipped to two feet and made that, then on the fifth he chipped his second out of the trees, then knocked his third to 12 feet and rolled that in to move to minus-9.
The 51-year-old stuffed his tee shot at the par-3 seventh within a foot and kicked that in for his third birdie. Huston converted a birdie from about 15 feet out on the 10th.
Huston 2-putted for birdie on the par-5 12th, but stumbled to a bogey on the 13th after coming up short with his second shot out of the rough. After four straight pars, Huston converted an 8-foot birdie try at the 18th to lead by one heading into the final round.
"I would have to say it was pretty similar to the first round. I putted really well. I took advantage of most of the good chances that I had," Huston said. "Still haven't driven it all that great, but I think I kind of did the same thing last year and then the last day I drove it really well. So hopefully that will happen again because it would certainly make it a lot easier."
Faxon had a pair of scoring bursts that helped him jump into second place. After two pars to start his round, Faxon drained four consecutive birdie efforts from the third to jump to minus-9.
Around the turn, he faltered to a double-bogey on the par-4 10th. Faxon got those strokes right back as he birdied the 11th and 12th. He also birdied the par-4 13th to get to 10-under.
Faxon got within one of the lead thanks to a birdie on the par-3 17th.
"I was on the 12th green to start this morning, and I started my day with a 4- footer for birdie and I missed it. A lot of times the first putt of the day, if you miss it, it kind of throws you off a little bit with your putting," said Faxon. "I don't know what happened, but on the 14th hole I made about a 65-, 70-foot putt for a birdie.
"Then everything went crazy. I mean, three birdies out of the last five holes this morning to finish off a good round of 67 and then kept it going. I think I had four birdies in a row once and three birdies in a row another time, so I had a great feel for the greens today."
NOTES: With this being the sixth year of the tournament, Huston would become the first repeat winner if he can hold on...Faxon won twice on at En Joie when the PGA Tour played the B.C. Open there.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.