BOCA RATON -- For the second day in a row, a handful of golfers struggled to create separation at the top of the Allianz Championship leaderboard, but when the dust settled Saturday, a familiar face remained in the lead: Corey Pavin.

Pavin, known as the bulldog for his tenacity on the golf course, had a respectable showing, if not quite as impressive as his performance on the first day of the Champions Tour tournament.

On Friday, Pavin rode an impressive back nine to a two-shot lead, but Saturday a late bogey pushed his final score to a 2-under-par 70 and his weekend tally to 10-under 134. On a windy day at the Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, that was good enough for Pavin to hold on to a share of the top spot.

“I played solidly,” Pavin said. “I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. I wasn’t really in trouble very much [Saturday].”

Peter Senior is also atop the leaderboard after shooting a 4-under 68 to tie Pavin. Senior, who has never won on the Champions Tour, bogeyed the first hole after his shot spun off the green. After that miscalculation, the Australian buckled down, tallying three birdies on the back nine.

The 10-to-15-mph winds challenged players all day, especially on long putts from 15 to 20 feet from the hole.

“Putting was extremely difficult out there [Saturday] with the speed of the greens,” Senior said. “You get the wind behind you, and it was hard to stop it short of the hole.”

Pavin also commented on the difficulty of the greens, but those conditions might actually favor Pavin, who is noted for his accurate short game. Pavin said he has used a brass Bulls Eye putter off and on since 1984.

“It’s a putter that gives you a lot of feedback,” Pavin said. “Generally, people will tell you that it’s not an easy putter to putt with, but it’s got a very soft shaft, and it has a very small sweet spot, so you’ve got to make good strokes. But when you do, it feels better to me than any putter I’ve ever used.”

The tournament’s top four players are within one shot of each other — after Pavin and Senior, Mark Calcavecchia and Bernhard Langer finished Saturday at 135.

Behind them are four golfers tied at 137, including Peter Jacobsen, who paced the field with a 7-under 65. It was Jacobsen’s best round since shooting a 7-under 64 at the Toshiba Classic in March 2007.

The 2003 Comeback Player of the Year on the PGA Tour, Jacobsen has struggled to stay healthy. Jacobsen said he has had 17 surgeries in the past 10 years, including a procedure in November to remove bone spurs from his lower back. Although surgeries and recovery time have hampered Jacobsen’s long game, he has had plenty of time to perfect his putting.

Jacobsen had 26 putts Saturday. After recording four birdies Friday, Jacobsen tallied seven Saturday, giving him 11 on the weekend. That’s one behind Pavin’s 12 birdies.

“The one thing that I’ve been doing very well over the last couple years is I’ve been putting and chipping well because I’ve been hitting the ball so poorly,” Jacobsen said.

Although Jacobsen’s surgeries have provided numerous setbacks, he said his passion for the sport prevented him from ever thinking about putting away his clubs.

“I know I’m going to have fun,” Jacobsen said. “I have fun whether I shoot 65 or 75 because I love the game and I appreciate the game. I appreciate what’s it’s done for me, what it’s given me in my life. It’s given me everything in my life.”

Green living

Last year’s Allianz Championship was the first Champions Tour event played on a Golf Environment Organization-certified course, a testament to the tournament’s efforts to become one of the “greenest” in the country. This year, the tournament continued its environmental push through initiatives across the course, including the use of recycled signs and solar-powered golf carts.