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| March 3, 2002 | Sunday | Zilhaj 18, 1422 |
Els takes lead, Woods four shots adrift
MIAMI (Florida), March 2: Ernie Els shot a five-under-par 67 to take a two-stroke lead over American Briny Baird after a windy second round in the $4.7 million Genuity Championship at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa Friday.
Sharing third place on 137, four shots off the lead, were world number one Tiger Woods, Rich Beem, Skip Kendall, Justin Leonard and Australia’s Peter Lonard.
Australia’s Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby, Jesper Parnevik of Sweden, Zimbabwe’s Nick Price, Ian Leggatt of Canada and American Pat Perez were all on 138.
South African Els, who is playing his first strokeplay event on the U.S. PGA Tour this season, has yet to make a bogey this week.
Els did not win on the tour last year for the first season since 1993. During a seven-year span, he won eight times on the circuit, including the 1994 and 1997 U.S. Opens.
The last time Els led on the tour was at the 2001 Mercedes Championships when he was four strokes clear. He eventually finished tied for third.
Baird, a Floridian whose best finish on the tour is a tie for third, is the most immediate threat to Els. He vaulted up the leaderboard with a six-under-par 66.
Baird’s success can be linked to his iron play this week. He leads the field in greens hit in regulation, having found 29 of 36.
After a mediocre start to 2002 — only one top-25 finish in five events — Baird went back to his coach Mike Adams up the road in Palm Beach, Florida, to work on a few things and has started to swing the club more consistently this week.
Woods is firmly in the hunt for the title after shooting a two-under-par 70 for 137.
The second round was suspended due to darkness at 1825 local time with three players still on the course.
Saturday’s projected cut is even par, 144, with 83 players set to compete in the final two rounds.
Second round scores
133 Ernie Els 66 67
135 Briny Baird 69 66
137 Rich Beem 69 68, Skip Kendall 67 70, Tiger Woods 67 70, Justin Leonard 67 70, Peter Lonard 70 67
138 Pat Perez 69 69, Steve Elkington 67 71, Ian Leggatt 71 67, Jesper Parnevik 71 67, Stuart Appleby 68 70, Nick Price 69 69
139 Shigeki Maruyama 67 72, Lee Janzen 68 71, Brent Geiberger 69 70, Bob Tway 68 71, Lee Porter 67 72, Craig Perks 71 68, Len Mattiace 70 69, Vijay Singh 66 73, Tommy Armour III 67 72, Steve Allan 66 73.—Reuters
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