Calcavecchia moves one clear in Iowa

Jun 7, 2015 - 1:48 AM Des Moines, IA (SportsNetwork.com) - Mark Calcavecchia birdied the final two holes to close out a 4-under 68 Saturday and that gave him a 1-shot lead after 36 holes of the Principal Charity Classic.

Calcavecchia ended two rounds at 9-under-par 135. He will go for his third Champions Tour win on Sunday.

Durant shot 68 for the second straight day at the Wakonda Club and improved into second place at minus-8.

Paul Goydos, Brian Henninger and Michael Allen all shot 70 in round two. They are tied for third place at 7-under-par 137.

Jose Coceres and Billy Andrade shared the first-round lead, but both struggled on Saturday. Coceres tripped to a 1-over 73 that dropped him into a share of 11th at minus-5, while Andrade faltered to a 4-over 76 and tumbled into a tie for 32nd at 2-under-par 142.

Calcavecchia opened the round with a bogey at the second and a birdie on the third. He tripped to another bogey on No. 6 and was two off the lead.

Henninger birdied the fourth to tie Jeff Coston at minus-6. Henninger tripped to a bogey at the sixth and fell one behind, but Coston was then joined in the lead by Peter Senior, who birdied the 12th and 13th.

Bart Bryant, Goydos and Allen reached 6-under to create a 5-way tie for the lead. Allen and Coston moved in front at 7-under as they both birdied the eighth, then Coston stumbled to a bogey at the ninth to slip one back.

After Durant and Goydos earned a piece of the lead, Calcavecchia joined them at 7-under. The two-time Champions Tour winner ran off three straight birdies from the 13th.

Durant birdied the last to post 8-under.

"As you can see by the leaderboard, it's really bunched up, so someone is going to come out and shoot a good round and it's going to take a good round for many of us tomorrow to have a chance to win," said Durant. "But you just play the first two to put yourself in position and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Calcavecchia parred three in a row from the 14th before closing with back-to- back birdies to finish one clear of Durant.

"Walking down 17, I hit a good shot there and I looked at the scoreboard and, you know, there's so many guys within three or four shots of the lead and I thought, well, it sure would be nice to birdie the last two and kind of get up there a little bit higher and sure enough, I did," Calcavecchia said. "But there are still a whole bunch of guys that can win."

NOTES: Calcavecchia has won just one of the previous seven times he had the 36-hole lead on the Champions Tour ... Durant tied for seventh at this event last year ... Larry Nelson had a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th.