David Toms cards nine birdies, takes two-shot lead at Cologuard Classic

“I thought it might be one of those days where I could go really low.”

David Toms shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday to jump into the lead at the 2023 Cologuard Classic.

Toms opened with consecutive birdies and made the turn with a 6-under 30. He birdied Nos. 10, 14 and 17 but had bogeys on Nos. 16 to 18 to finish 36 holes at 11 under at Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Arizona.

“Front nine, obviously when you shoot 6-under par first nine, a lot of things  went well. I made a couple nice putts, but I hit a lot of nice shots, kept the ball in play, got pretty hot in the beginning actually,” Toms said. “I thought it might be one of those days where I could go really low.”

Toms last won at the 2021 Ascension Charity Classic in St. Louis in a playoff.

“Certainly you can’t ever really get ahead of yourself. Back when I used to win a fairly good amount on the [PGA] Tour, I just never really thought about winning too much, I went out there and played golf and it just kind of happened,” Toms said. “Tomorrow I’ll have to obviously play aggressive when you can because there’s a lot of guys out there, you saw a lot of good scores today. The weather’s going to be nice again, so it will be another day where I’ll have to be hot, but why not?”

Robert Karlsson is two shots back after his second-round 64. Steve Stricker is in solo third at 8 under after shooting a 66.

Chris DiMarco posted a 63, the round of the week so far, to get into a tie for fourth alongside Alex Cejka and Retief Goosen.

First-round leader Brett Quigley stumbled to a 73 on Saturday. He opened with a bogey, had birdies on Nos. 8 and 9 and then closed with back-to-back bogeys.

Bernhard Langer, tied with Hale Irwin for the most wins in Champions tour history with 45, is tied for 15th after rounds of 72 and 68. He will start the final round Sunday seven shots back.

Langer did celebrate a Champions tour milestone, playing in his 1,000th round Saturday.

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