Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Defending champion Jeff Maggert leads after two rounds of Shaw Charity Classic

Sep 6, 2016 | 4:09 PM

CALGARY — Jeff Maggert wasn’t pleased with his performance so far this season heading into this weekend’s PGA Tour Champions tournament.

Maggert had already won four events by this time last year, including the 2015 Shaw Charity Classic.

“I came in here a little bit kind of angry and a little bit more hungry because of the way I played this year,” said Maggert, who’s currently 19th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings after finishing in second spot last season. “I really felt like I hadn’t lived up to the way I should have been playing.”

The 52-year-old golfer from Sea Pines, S.C., started this weekend’s three-round event at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club with the mindset that he was going to play aggressively.

That’s exactly what he’s done — shooting his second straight round of 7-under 63 on Saturday to move atop the leaderboard at 14 under.

Maggert’s 36-hole total of 126 is the lowest in the four-year history of the Shaw Charity Classic. He’s three shots clear of Carlos Franco, who also carded a 63, to get to 10 under.

“Jeff Maggert is a good friend of mine, too, and he played well,” said Franco. “I know he’s a fantastic player, but I’m prepared to come strong tomorrow.”

Standings leader Bernhard Langer of Germany shot his second straight round of 65 to finish Round 2 at 10 under and in third place.

“There’s this guy from Germany that’s lurking around the lead again too,” warned Maggert. “I have to play well tomorrow.”

Michael Allen followed up his opening-round 67 with a 64 on Saturday and is tied for fourth at 9 under with Fred Funk and Jose Coceres. After paring the first hole, Allen reeled off five straight birdies before cooling off a bit on the back nine.

“Maggert’s a tough competitor. When he plays well, he doesn’t make a whole lot of mistakes,” said Allen, who teed off almost two hours ahead of the leaders. “If he’s leading by three or four, it’s going to be hard to catch him, that’s for sure.”

Rod Spittle of Niagara Falls, Ont., had a solid round of 4-under 66 to move into a tie for 18th spot overall at 6 under heading into Sunday’s final round.

“I just hit it in the fairway and probably hit a few more greens today,” said Spittle, who had a chance to get to 7 under, but he missed a short putt for birdie on the par-5 18th hole.

“It would be nice to have a do-over. It wasn’t a very good effort. The third shot was probably closer than the fourth one. I made my fair share today. It would have been nice to finish that way. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Victoria’s Jim Rutledge and Vancouver’s Stephen Ames are sitting well back in a tie for 66th place at 2 over after shooting rounds of 73 and 72 respectively.

Laurence Heinen, The Canadian Press