TOLEDO, OHIO ? While everybody else was playing for par, Vicente Fernandez just kept aiming at the flag. Fernandez went birdie-birdie-eagle early in his round, then closed it with three birdies in a glittering 7-under 64 Friday that gave him a one-shot lead over Tom Watson after two rounds of the U.S. Senior Open.

Fernandez’s round followed a 73 and left him at 5-under 137. It was the lowest round of the day by five shots and was 13 strokes under the average score of the 156-player field.

The 64 was the lowest second-round score in 24 Senior Opens and was one shot off Vijay Singh’s competitive course record at Inverness Club, set during the second round of the 1993 PGA Championship.

The 57-year-old Argentine started Friday in a logjam for 12th, seven shots behind Watson, the first-round leader with a 66.

While the rest of the field — including Watson — had difficulty gauging the speed of the hard, fast greens at Inverness, Fernandez hit his approaches so close that he eliminated a lot of the guesswork.

Watson started and ended his round of 72 with bogeys and was at 138. Bruce Lietzke was at 140 after a 71, with Allen Doyle (69) at 141 and Fuzzy Zoeller another stroke back after a 71.