Berkshire, England (My Sportsbook) - Fred Funk eagled the 18th hole on Friday to shoot a five-under 65 in the second round of the Senior British Open and set a new 36-hole tournament scoring record.

Funk, who fired a sparkling 64 on Thursday to also set the 18-hole record, moved to 11-under-par 129 to break the old halfway mark by a stroke.

He holed his last shot of the day, an eight-iron from 170 yards, for the closing eagle. Funk also collected three birdies, posting his second straight bogey-free round on the Old Course at Sunningdale.

"I don't feel like I shot 65," said Funk, who built a three-shot lead. "It's just the way it all added up at the end. When you do what I did at the finish and then all of a sudden you're five-under par, you go, 'Wow, where did that come from?'"

Sam Torrance also shot a 65 Friday, but still trails Funk by three strokes at eight-under 132. Loren Roberts, the 2006 champion, posted a 68 and is two shots further behind at six-under 134.

An afternoon thunderstorm forced a weather delay of two hours and the round was later suspended due to darkness with 18 players left on the course. They will finish their second rounds on Saturday morning.

The leaderboard behind Funk is littered with top Champions Tour players. Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Tom Kite and Jay Haas are among those in contention as the second senior major of the season heads to the weekend.

But they are chasing a player in Funk who is not only comfortable on the course at the moment, but confident in his ability to close the championship out.

"There's a lot of golf to be played, but I'm playing well. If I keep doing what I'm doing and especially putt as well as I've been putting, I will be hard to catch," said Funk.

Following up a low first-round score with another good number is no easy task, just ask any top golfer. And as Funk walked off the course Friday -- even after his dramatic closing eagle gave him the 36-hole record -- he wasn't sure he had done it.

"It wasn't like I walked off thinking I shot this great round," Funk said, "although it was a round I would have loved to have before I teed off, that's for sure."

The players in the afternoon wave who had to wait out the thunderstorm found Funk's pace impossible to match when they returned to the course.

Of course, it wasn't until late in his round that Funk really got going himself.

He started the round with a birdie on No. 1 for the second straight day, but all that awaited Funk on the next 12 holes were pars.

Suddenly, he was treading water.

Funk, however, went on to birdie the 14th and 16th holes before his theatrical finish gave him his third second-round lead on the Champions Tour.

He broke the old 36-hole scoring record of 10-under originally set by Brian Barnes in 1995 on the par-72 layout at Royal Portrush (Barnes had a total of 134). Roberts and Eduardo Romero both posted 10-under 130 totals for 36 holes at Turnberry in 2006.

The new record helped the 53-year-old Funk steal the spotlight from Watson, the three-time Senior Open champion who is coming off a spectacular run at Turnberry last week, where he nearly became the oldest major champion on the PGA Tour.

"I birdied 16 and holed a shot on 18 and all of a sudden it looks like a great round that I played," said Funk, who is chasing his fifth Champions Tour win and second senior major.