Bernhard Langer, who won the latest of his record 11 PGA Tour Champions major titles four years ago, sits in first place at the midpoint of the US Senior Open.
The 65-year-old German shot a 3-under-par 68 on Friday at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis., leaving him at 3-under 139 through two rounds.
First-round leader Rod Pampling of Australia is in second at 2 under after carding a 1-over 72 on Friday.
Dicky Pride (second-round 69), Jerry Kelly (70) and South Africa's Retief Goosen are tied for third place at 1 under.
Wisconsin native Steve Stricker (70), who won the previous two PGA Tour Champions majors this year, and South Africa's Ernie Els (71) share sixth place at even par.
South Korea's Y.E. Yang (70) and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez (73) are tied for eighth at 1 over.
Langer is tied with Hale Irwin for the most career wins on the senior circuit, each with 45. Langer posted his latest win at the Chubb Classic in February. He last prevailed in a Champions major at the 2019 Senior Open Championship.
On Friday, Langer wound up with six birdies and three bogeys.
"Yesterday was – yeah, you can't say boring, but a lot of pars. I think I only had one birdie, if I'm correct," he said. "Today was a little bit better. Played pretty solid, and believe it or not, I had two three-putts and a hit a sand wedge from the middle of the fairway into the water hazard, which is painful when you think about that from 100 yards, but that's golf.
"The course is tough, but it's fair, and it's a great setup. I'm fortunate to be playing well and look forward to the weekend."
Pampling's round featured a lone birdie, at the par-4 ninth hole, and two bogeys.
"I played solid," Pampling said. "The greens are a little bit tricky this afternoon. I never had the nice putts yesterday, so was always a lot more break today. My speed was just a bit off. I'd played mostly in the morning, so, yeah, I was just coming up a bit short. I'll address that now and be ready to go tomorrow."
Other big names lurking just behind the leaders include Ireland's Padraig Harrington (tied for 12th at 3 over), Scotland's Colin Montgomerie (tied for 17th at 4 over) and South Korea's KJ Choi and Fiji's Vijay Singh (tied for 24th at 5 over).