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Blake surges ahead at Schwab Cup

By | Sports Network

San Francisco, CA – Jay Don Blake could get used to this winning thing.

Sporting is customary trademark mustache, Blake shot a five-under 66 on Saturday to take a two-shot lead at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Blake, who went 20 years between professional wins after finally getting his first Champions Tour in Korea two months ago, finished 54 holes at eight-under 205. It's his second career 54-hole lead of a 72-hole event on the Champions Tour, eventually shooting a 76 on Sunday at the 2010 Senior PGA Championship to finish eighth.

This time around, Blake hopes to win a little easier than his four-man, five- hole playoff to win the Songdo IBD Championship in September. Nonetheless, he was happy with is performance on Saturday.

"I'm just trying to have some fun and let my game take its course and execute my shots," Blake said in a televised interview. "The nerves are still there, but it's nice to come here...first time being here...and playing well so far."

This tournament, however, is also about who will win the Charles Schwab Cup Points championship at the end of the year, and only five of the 30 players in the field have an opportunity at that. At the moment, only one player appears to have a chance to unseat Tom Lehman atop that leaderboard.

With Lehman (72) knotted in 16th, Mark Calcavecchia (70), who slipped from fourth to sixth at four-under, can finish first in the points race with a sole second-place finish. He'd also need Lehman to finish 11th, but that seems likely at this point.

The other three contenders -- John Cook, Peter Senior and Russ Cochran -- are all well off Blake's pace.

Michael Allen was in good position to lead the tournament before a couple late bogeys resulted in a two-under on the day and a six-under overall. One of three 36-hole co-leaders, Allen now shares second with David Frost (70), another second-round co-leader, and Jay Haas (67).

Fred Couples, the third leader coming into the day, struggled to a three-over 74 and fell into a tie for 12th.

MORE TO FOLLOW.