Gary Hallberg leads Senior British

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TURNBERRY, Scotland -- Gary Hallberg of the United States made eight birdies in a 7-under 63 Friday during the windy second round of the Senior Open Championship, taking a three-stroke lead on Bernhard Langer and Tom Lehman.

Langer had a 73 after his opening 64, logging a triple-bogey 7 on the 13th hole.

"I think Gary's 63 is the round of the year," Langer said. "Shooting 7 under today is like 10 or 11 under on a decent day. That's how good it was and I take my hat off to him."

Like Langer, Lehman played when the wind was at its strongest, with gusts up to 25 mph. He managed one birdie at the 17th and dropped shots on the 11th and 14th to finish with a 71.

"When I saw Gary's score going on the board I thought, 'Wow! Did he play the par-3 course across the road?' He's a bit of a character, so nothing surprises me what he might shoot," Lehman said.

Hallberg dropped his only shot at the second hole, then mastered the conditions with eight birdies. He got three on the run from the fifth to go out in 33. He had another run at Nos. 10, 11, 13, 14 and the 17th for a 30.

"It was one of the greatest days I've had in many years, it was just a pleasure," Hallberg said. "I played aggressively and had some great putts go in, but I started to choke a bit near the end and left putts at 15, 16 and 18 short."

Fred Couples shot a 68, one of only two under-par rounds. He had birdies at the fifth and seventh, dropped a stroke at the 15th, birdied Nos. 16 and 17 before dropping another stroke at the last hole.

He's six strokes back, along with fellow American Michael Allen (74) and Ireland's Mark McNulty, whose 75 was 10 shots worse than his opening effort. Tom Watson followed his 69 with a 75 on Friday, 10 strokes behind the leader.

Greg Norman (77) missed the cut.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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