Hot Third of a Round Earns Half of Lead : Golf: Geiberger’s streak ties him with Lee Trevino for first in Senior event.

For six holes Friday at La Costa, Al Geiberger played the way he had for 18 when he got his 59.

When Geiberger set the PGA record in 1977 at Memphis, finally tied last year by Chip Beck in Las Vegas, it brought him lasting fame.

The hot streak for one-third of a round earned him only a tie for first place with Lee Trevino at the halfway point of the senior division of the Infiniti Tournament of Champions.

Geiberger and Trevino, paired after shooting 71 each on opening day, proved superior mudders. Despite the glop, each shot a 67, five under par, for a 36-hole total of 138. And that put them well ahead of the field.

In a four-way tie for third, five strokes behind, are Chi Chi Rodriguez, the first-round leader; DeWitt Weaver, Bob Charles and defending champion Bruce Crampton.

Geiberger was showing no signs of making a move early in the second round. But he got hot on the sixth hole and put together six consecutive threes. They included a pitch for an eagle and a chip-in for a birdie. For those six holes, he was five under par.

Trevino credited Geiberger’s string of threes for getting his game moving, too.

“Until Al got hot, I was just keeping his score,” Trevino said. “I had made a birdie on two, but when he started going, he took me along with him. It happens that way sometimes.”

The tournament is a family outing for the Geibergers, who live in Solvang. Son John is Al’s caddie and the others are rooting him on.

So there was a big gallery following Trevino and Geiberger, and it saw Geiberger eagle the par - five ninth hole. His 105-yard wedge shot landed in front of the cup, bounced past it, then spun back into the hole.

Geiberger said: “My son said when I hit it, ‘It’s in.’ Lee said, ‘That’s close.’ Then I saw it go in the hole. On the 10th (a par-four), I hit my approach over the green and chipped in from 30 feet.

“That run was my round. There wasn’t anything else.”

During his spree, Geiberger sank putts of 22, 20 and 10 feet.

Except for one 30-footer from the fringe, all of Trevino’s putts were eight feet or shorter. “I remember saying yesterday that there was no advantage landing in the fairway,” he said. “I was wrong. The rough is tough. I hit every fairway today and was lucky that I didn’t pick up too much mud. The conditions were muddier. As I said, it’s like a race track. When it first rains the ball skips along, but when it dries out it gets slow and muddy.”

A freak accident almost forced Geiberger to skip the tournament. Last weekend, he stumbled in the dark over a child’s toy, injuring the big toe on his right foot.

“Fortunately, the toe recovered quickly and it doesn’t hurt at all,” he said. “But wouldn’t that have been some reason for withdrawing?”

It was a quiet day in more than one way for Rodriguez. During the first round, he was paired with Trevino and the two kept up an incessant chatter. During the second, he was with Bob Charles. Charles might be the best left-hander in golf history, but he also is one of the quietest. Perhaps the silence got to Rodriguez, who did not putt well en route to a one-over 73.

He is doing better, though, than George Archer and Mike Hill, voted senior co-golfers of the year. Archer, who had a sensational finish last year, is at 149, 11 shots back. Hill, after a 70, is at 145.