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By Greg Hardwig
Naples Daily News
Naples, Fla. - Other groups are going to have to beat out "the King of Silly Season" to win The Franklin Templeton Shootout today.
Fred Couples -- a regular in many offseason PGA Tour events such as The Skins Game -- and Adam Scott were red-hot in the second round on Saturday.
The 46-year-old Couples, called "The King of Silly Season" by Kenny Perry, and 25-year-old Scott used a stretch of six straight birdies in the better-ball format to shoot an 11-under-par 61 and get to 19-under for the tournament. They hold a two-shot lead over Perry and John Huston at Tiburón Golf Club.
"We really did our job," Couples said. "We got the lead and got a little bit of a cushion and, of course, (Huston and Perry) made a nice finish."
"He is the king of the silly season," Perry said of Couples. "He makes more money this time of year than most of us make all during the year."
 | | A win today would be Couples' fourth title at the Shootout. |
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Couples and Scott have become friends over the past couple of years. When Couples heard that Scott was planning on playing in the Shootout and didn't have a partner, he quickly made himself available.
So far, it's been the perfect pairing.
The twosome birdied Nos. 5 through 10 to get to 15-under, parred the next three holes, then birdied four of the last five to get to 19-under.
"We're two guys who can make a lot of birdies and we did today," Scott said. "We did a pretty good job of picking up the slack for one another."
That certainly appeared to be the case. Scott started off with a birdie on No. 1, then Couples birdied Nos. 5, 8, 9 and 10 sandwiched around a Scott birdie at No. 6.
"A lot of times you can hit the ball solid, nice and have two players having 20- or 30-footers and you not make them," Couples said.
Scott took over with birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 17 -- he chipped in from off the green on 15 -- before Couples banged in a 35-footer for birdie on No. 18 to finish the five-hole stretch of four birdies.
"It was a big putt to make because we walked up there and, in typical fashion, I knew somebody had eagled No. 17," Couples said. "I saw (Jason Gore and Fred Funk) jump from 13 to 15(-under) and then I thought (Huston and Perry) would birdie it, and they eagled it to go to 16(-under) and also birdied No. 18."
"John's a great player," Perry said. "I'm going to put him close to that hole and he's going to make them all. I think that we are going to run them down."
The 12 two-man teams will play a scramble format today in the final round of the $2.6 million event. The winners split $630,000. Today's final round will be shown tape-delayed on CBS beginning at 4 p.m. because the local network is showing the Miami Dolphins game at 1 p.m.
There was a logjam most of the afternoon at 13-under before Huston and Perry went birdie-eagle-par-birdie to get to 17-under, and Gore and Funk, the first-round leaders, birdied three straight holes on the back, then eagled No. 17 on Gore's chip-in and birdied No. 18 to get to 16-under.
"I couldn't let Jason Gore top me," Perry said of his 35-foot eagle putt from the fringe on No. 17, just after Gore had holed out his eagle.
Two-time defending champions Hank Kuehne and Jeff Sluman had a rough day, but closed with three birdies to get to 11-under. Tournament founder Greg Norman, playing one month after minor knee surgery, rebounded with teammate Steve Elkington to shoot a 6-under-par 66 and get to 9-under for the event.
"It's a tournament where you kind of need to get going early and keep it going from start to finish," Perry said. "You can't let up or guys will pass you."
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