Boo Weekley carded his second consecutive round of 6-under-par 66 on Saturday and took a one-stroke lead over South African Ernie Els at the Insperity Invitational at The Woodlands (Texas) Country Club.

Weekley, 52, is seeking his first victory on the PGA Tour Champions after winning three times on the PGA Tour but not since 2013. He is at 12-under 132 after 36 holes, leading Els by one and by a three-stroke margin over Tom Pernice Jr. (66 on Saturday) and South Korea’s Charlie Wi (68).

Els also shot a 66 after opening with a 67. First-round leader Ben Crane carded a 1-under 71 and is tied at 8 under with six others: Northern Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiminez, New Zealand’s Steven Alker, Zach Johnson, Tommy Gainey and defending champion Stewart Cink, who has won the season’s first two majors.

Crane shot a 7-under round of 65 on Friday.

Weekley has produced a dozen birdies and no bogies through 36 holes. On Saturday, he birdied four of the first seven holes. He also was successful in scrambling 5-of-5 times and is 7 of 7 with one round remaining.

“I left a lot of putts short on this back side that could have went in,” Weekley said. “You know, really, really close to going in. Just a little, you know, another foot of speed or a little bit higher line or something like that. But overall, I’m happy where everything’s going right now.”

Els heated up on the back nine, recording four consecutive birdies from the 13th through the 16th holes. Included in that run were birdies on the par-3 14th and 16th holes.

Els drove the ball much better on Saturday, hitting 11 fairways and increasing his driving distance by nearly 19 yards.

“It’s a long story. It’s kind of ball position and setup, all the normal stuff that gets out of whack with me,” said Els. “So those are the most uncomfortable things to work on. So, today was a good day.”

What would it take for Weekley to win?

“I’d like another 66,” he said. “I’d like to roll my dice on it and see what happens. … You know, any time you can shoot 66 and just keep playing golf, that’s a good round no matter where you finish.”

Like Crane admitted on Friday, Els is really enjoying himself on the tour.

“You know, when I was younger I downplayed the Champions Tour,” Els said. “You know, I didn’t have a good time when I was in my late 40s on the regular tour. So to be out here, be able to compete, to play, to have almost a tournament a week at our age, come on, you know? It’s gravy. And to have the guys that I’ve competed against all my life and still trying to win a tournament is — there’s no other sport like this.”

–Field Level Media

Gabriel Pec scored two second-half goals for the LA Galaxy, who defeated host Atlanta United 2-1 on Saturday evening.

Pec’s brace, which gave him three goals in MLS play this season, led the Galaxy (4-4-4, 16 points) to their second road win in league action and a third straight unbeaten result (2-0-1).

Atlanta (3-8-1, 10 points) saw its three-match win streak across all competitions come to an end in its final home match before the World Cup break.

Pec scored the eventual match-winner in the 79th minute. As he ventured into the box, his initial shot was blocked. The LA winger then pounced on the loose ball and fired it home to make it 2-1.

That came five minutes after Pec equalized it in the 74th minute. A failed tackle by Elias Baez gave Pec a one-on-one chance against Atlanta goalkeeper Lucas Hoyos, which he converted to level the match at 1-all. Marco Reus and Joseph Paintsil assisted on the goal.

Pec’s tying goal canceled out Jay Fortune’s brilliant opener in the 69th minute. Fortune collected the ball near the left touchline, dribbled to the top of the box and laced it past a lunging JT Marcinkowski. It was Fortune’s first goal of the season, assisted by Elias Baez and Saba Lobjanidze.

An eventful, yet scoreless, first half featured three yellow cards for Atlanta United within four minutes, along with yellow cards issued to both the Atlanta and LA benches.

In the 41st minute, Atlanta appeared to take a 1-0 lead on a corner-kick routine, but Juan Berrocal’s potential first MLS goal was disallowed after Matias Galarza was ruled to have committed a foul on Marcinkowski in the process.

Pec’s double gave the Galaxy a third straight win over Atlanta United, tying the all-time series at 3-3-0.

–Field Level Media

In a battle between the two Queen Cities Saturday night in Charlotte, FC Cincinnati squandered a two-goal lead in the second half and settled for a 2-2 draw with Charlotte FC.

FC Cincinnati (4-4-4, 16 points) drew first blood in the 36th minute, Evander took a free kick, with the ball saved by a diving Kristijan Kahlina. But Kahlina deflected the ball right to Kevin Denkey, who unleashed a leaping kick with his right foot to give Cincinnati a 1-0 lead with his seventh goal of the season.

Evander didn’t have to wait long to find the net himself. With Cincinnati on the attack as the first half wound down in the 43rd minute, Evander unleashed a lofted shot from the edge of the box which found the top-left corner to extend Cincinnati’s lead to 2-0. The goal was Evander’s fourth in Cincinnati’s last two matches.

But less than 10 minutes into the second half, Charlotte (4-5-3, 15 points) roared back to tie the match with two goals in a three-minute span. After Idan Toklomati got Charlotte on the board in the 51st minute on a header off a headed assist from Tim Ream, Pep Biel equalized on his team-high sixth goal in the 53rd. He buried a centering pass from Djibril Danil into the top of the net past Roman Celentano.

Cincinnati narrowly outperformed Charlotte on the stat sheet in shots (13-11), shots on goal (5-3) and possession (53.8%-46.2%).

Both teams had chances throughout the second half to break the draw but could not find the net. It was a physical battle Saturday night, with Cincinnati given four yellow cards and Charlotte assessed one. The two teams also combined for 23 fouls.

Kahlina also made three saves in goal for Charlotte FC, while Celentano made one for Cincinnati.

–Field Level Media