Stricker blasted out of the gates with two early eagles helping him to a 5-under front nine and an early five shot lead.
Despite at one stage being six clear of the field, the 44-year-old bogeyed two of the final four holes to finish with a 3-under par 69, enough for a 12-under 204 total.
It puts him three clear of countryman Jonathan Byrd who is outright second after a 3-under 69 of his own, sitting at 9-under 207.
Matt Kuchar and Brandt Jobe sit a shot further back, tied third at 8-under 208.
Marc Leishman and Rod Pampling are poised for a high finish as the best of the Australians, currently tied for eighth at 6-under-par 210.
Leishman blitzed his way to a 6-under 66 early in the day to rocket 41 spots up the leaderboard while Pampling grinded his way to an even par 72.
After scores of 73 and 71 in the opening rounds, Leishman hit his straps on 'moving' day, equalling the best round of the tournament on a course he says suits his game.
The Victorian opened his round on the Jack Nicklaus design with laser like precision iron shots, notching up three straight birdies with putts no longer than one and a half metres.
Another five birdies punctuated his round with just two bogies blotting his card.
"There's probably about eight or 10 courses for the year that I really feel I can play well around them," he said.
"This is definitely one of them so hopefully I can play well again tomorrow and finish with a great result."
Stricker, who closed out his second round with a hole-in-one on his penultimate hole and a birdie on his last, came out firing on Saturday, holing out his second shot from 106 metres on the par-four second for eagle.
With his gap on the field widening he continued the red-hot form, knocking his second shot on the par-five fifth to two metres before rolling in the putt for his second eagle of the day.
Pampling struggled at times with five bogeys but showed great character to carve out three birdies and a chip in eagle to remain on track for a third consecutive top 10.
John Senden is tied 17th at 4-under par while Aaron Baddeley dropped from the top six to be tied 25th at 2-under.
- AAP
Tags: sport, golf, united-states First posted June 5, 2011 09:44:00
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