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After bogeying on Hole 12 (par 3), Chalmers tallied four birdies in the final six holes — including the last two — to finish the round at 7 under (64). 

Rod Pampling, Stephen Ames and Ernie Els enter Saturday tied for second at 5 under. Jason Caron, Tim O'Neal, Retief Goosen, Matthew Goggin and Stewart Cink, who led after the first two rounds last year, are tied for fifth at 4 under. 

Despite the wintry conditions and 50-degree weather, "I think we got a little blessed today with the weather," Chalmers said.

"Even though it was cold and a little windy, it certainly could have been a lot worse so that gave me a little bit of gee up so I was pretty happy about that," Chalmers said. "And then I got away to an OK start and then I just kept building, kept hitting solid shots. Every time I got into a little bit of trouble I got up and down and there were some really good chips and pitches. ... I'm really, really pleased and looking forward to the next couple days."

The key to fight through colder conditions: "It's just a matter of trying to get out of your own way; just hit the ball and whatever happens, happens," Ames said.

"I persevered and obviously as you can see we're all here for winter unfortunately in Tucson," said Ames, who recorded a bogey-less round on Friday. "So I played well, I played nicely, I putted very nicely, which is good. ... It's hard, it's very difficult.

"Even the fact that I lived 25 years in Canada, I never played in conditions like this. I was like, 'No, it's too cold, I'm not going out to play.' So it's a big mindset, definitely have to change it upstairs."

The weather is expected to clear up for Saturday's round. The forecasted high for Saturday is 65 degrees in sunny conditions. 

Although Chalmers is atop the leaderboard, the Aussie isn't hoping to be a one-round wonder at the Cologuard Classic this year. 

"I've got a lot of good processes in place and just hit good shots and we'll see what score it is," Chalmers said. "It's always difficult to shoot a low round and then back it up with even more low rounds, but what I've noticed is there's a lot of good players and they tend to do it at some point. So there's guys behind me who are thinking, 'Let's go low tomorrow.'

"I'm just going to try to keep hitting good shots and see the putts fall in and we'll see what happens."

Chip shots

• Former Arizona Wildcat Ted Purdy is tied for 10th after shooting 3 under on Friday. Purdy finished in 75th last year and shot 9 over. 
• Sabino High School graduate Willie Wood is tied for 22nd after carding 1 under (70). Defending Cologuard Classic champion Joe Durant is also tied for 22nd. 
• Cologuard ambassador Jerry Kelly is tied for 57th (2 over).