Polk City, Iowa ? Mike Reid’s modesty comes through even when he could be boasting.

Reid played a masterful round Saturday to take a two-stroke lead heading into the final 18 holes of the Allianz Championship, then talked about how lucky he was to be playing golf.

After a couple of lean years, Reid is going strong in his first full season on the Champions Tour. He won the Senior PGA Championship in stunning fashion a week ago and now is one solid round from a second straight victory.

“I’m just glad to have a job again,” said Reid, a regular on the PGA Tour from 1977 to 2001. “It’s such a privilege to be doing this. For the last few years, my game kind of lacked definition. It’s just great to be playing again, and to be playing well makes it doubly so.”

Reid put himself in position to win the Allianz with unusual success on the longer holes, which translated into a 5-under-par 66 to match the best round of the day.

Bruce Fleisher walks off the first tee at the Tournament Club of Iowa. Fleisher shot a 70 Saturday at the Allianz Championship in Polk City, Iowa, and trails leader Mike Reid by two strokes.

Only three days ago, Reid still seemed in a daze over what he had done last Sunday, when he came from three strokes down on the final hole of the Senior PGA to force a playoff, then won it on the first extra hole.

But he sure seems settled down and focused now. His near-perfect second round – only one bogey – left him at 7-under 135 for the tournament. When he did hit a bad shot, he’d recover on the next one.

“I knew my game was pretty sound, but I thought that focusing would be a challenge,” Reid said. “Once I got a couple of holes under way on Friday, I started to feel like my mind wasn’t wandering. In a way it’s good, because this golf course forces you to play attention.”

Bob Gilder, who changed his putting grip just before the round, matched Reid’s 66 to pull into contention at 5 under along with Morris Hatalsky (67), Bruce Fleisher (70) and first-round co-leader Tom Jenkins (72).

Gil Morgan and defending champion D.A. Weibring were at 4-under after shooting 67s.

Reid is known as “Radar” because of his accuracy, but he isn’t a long hitter off the tee. However, he was sensational on the four par-5s at the Tournament Club of Iowa, making birdie on three of them and an eagle on the other.

“I took advantage of them today and played the rest of the golf course well enough,” Reid said.