SAVANNAH, Ga. – Wayne Levi battled both Tom Purtzer and a strong wind, and held on for a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.

Levi, seeking his first Champions Tour victory of the season, shot a 4-under 68 for a two-round total of 9-under 135 at The Club at Savannah Harbor, a 7,087-yard island layout in the middle of the Savannah River.

Purtzer, who led by a stroke after the first round, felt his back stiffen in the windy conditions, but carded a 71 for a 136 total. Gusts reached 20 mph out of the northwest over the largely unprotected island, which has few trees.

Ireland’s Des Smyth (71) and Tom Jenkins (67) were tied at 137.

Levi, who has five top-10 finishes in six events this season, had a chance to take a commanding lead into Sunday’s final round, but bogeyed the final two holes.

“That’s the way it is. I didn’t want to do that,” Levi said. “I could have had a pretty good lead. But, that’s a lot of if’s.”

Actually, he needed some spectacular play just to save bogey at the par-4 18th.

Levi’s second shot plugged in the bunker behind the green. He blasted from there into the rough, then chipped to 2 feet and made the putt for the bogey.

“That was a great bogey,” Levi said. “I was probably looking at a double (bogey) there, easy. I had no shot from that bunker.”

Purtzer’s troubles began at No. 13, a par-5, when he knocked his second shot into some deep rough above a greenside bunker. A poor chip left his ball in the second cut and he needed an 8-foot putt to save par.

“I think maybe I was just trying to get too cute,” said Purtzer, who won the Australian Senior PGA Championship during a monthlong break in the Champions Tour schedule.

His troubles continued at the 14th, where the tee was moved up, shortening the par-4 to just 286 yards. Purtzer, using a 3-wood off the tee, drove it left within a foot of some tall marsh grass. With a restricted backswing, he chunked his ball into a greenside bunker. The resulting bogey – snapping a string of 29 holes of par or better – dropped Purtzer two strokes behind Levi.

“That shot lacked only a couple of inches from getting over that bunker,” he said. “That hurt.”

Purtzer’s slide continued with a three-putt bogey at No. 16, but he caught a break as Levi, playing one group ahead, bogeyed the par-3 17th.

The forecast for Sunday’s final round called for more high winds, with a high of 64 degrees.

“We’re all old enough that our backs like it warm,” Purtzer said. “Let’s hope the weather isn’t insane.”

The team of Tom Watson and Andy North won the Raphael Division team title by four strokes over the team of Bruce Lietzke and Bill Rogers. Watson and North had a 16-under 128 in the two-day, better-ball competition. The Legends, which spawned the senior circuit, had been strictly a team competition until 2002. Players in the team portion of the tournament play for unofficial money now.

Earlier in the week, Jimmy Powell and Orville Moody combined to shoot a best-ball 16-under 128 to win the 36-hole Demaret Division for players over 70. They were seven shots better than the runner-up team of Joe Jimenez and Charlie Sifford.

Divots: Curtis Strange’s 3-under 69 was his first sub-70 round since joining the Champions Tour in mid-February. The round, his 13th since joining the 50-and-over, included six birdies.

AP-ES-04-23-05 1740EDT