FORT WORTH (Texas), May 18: Zimbabwe’s Nick Price, who shot a five-under par 65, gained a share of the clubhouse lead in the second round of the rain-delayed MasterCard Colonial lead with Mexico’s Esteban Toledo on Friday.
Steve Flesch and Bob Tway are tied for second, one shot back, while four players, Glen Day, Kenny Perry, Brian Gay and Bob Burns, are tied for fifth at four-under on the par-70, 7,080-yard course.
Friday’s second round was delayed for three and a half hours by heavy rain before it was halted by darkness at 2016 local time (0116 GMT) with 18 players still on the course.
Price’s putting on Friday allowed him to jump from a tie for 24th after the opening round into the lead.
The three-time major winner needed just 26 putts on Friday, one better than the 27 he took in Thursday’s opening round.
Price made his charge on the back nine with birdies at the 11th, 12th and 14th holes to get to five-under on his round and six-under for the tournament.
He lost a stroke when he put his tee shot on the par-three 16th into the right-hand bunker and two-putted for a bogey-four before a 15-foot putt for birdie on 18 gave him the lead.
Toledo dropped two shots on his front nine, bogeying the sixth and eighth holes, before running off four birdies on the back nine for his second consecutive 67.
The 39-year-old Mexican needed just 25 putts on Friday, but it was his play from the bunkers which set him up for his three-under-par round.
Among those likely to miss the cut includes defending champion Sergio Garcia of Spain and British Open champion David Duval.
Leading completed second round scores (US unless stated).
HEIDELBERG (Germany): Alex Cejka produced a faultless eight-under-par 64 to lead the Deutsche Bank Open first round Friday by a shot from New Zealand’s Greg Turner with Tiger Woods posting a 69.
Cejka captured eight birdies without dropping a shot in a round reminiscent of his 1995 form when he won three times on the European tour, including the prestigious Volvo Masters.
Colin Montgomerie also continued his recent good form, posting a 66 to finish only two strokes off the lead and three better than the man he feels everyone has to beat at St Leon-Rot, the defending champion Woods.
Among those on five-under was 48-year-old Eduardo Romero of Argentina. Playing alongside world number one Woods, Romero laid to rest his nightmare finish in this event last year, going 10 shots better than his closing 77 in 2001.
John Daly, trying to win his second German title in two years, lost his way on the last hole with a double bogey and had to settle for a 73.
Leading first round scores (British unless stated):
64 — Alex Cejka (Germany).
65 — Greg Turner (New Zealand).
66 — Colin Montgomerie.
67 — Eduardo Romero (Spain), Darren Fichardt (South Africa), Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Raymond Russell, Henrik Bjornstad (Norway), Darren Clarke.
68 — Ian Woosnam, Greg Owen, Gary Clark, Richard Green (Australia), Richard S. Johnson (Sweden).
69 — Brian Davis, Alastair Forsyth, Marten Olander (Sweden), Tiger Woods (US), Pierre Fulke (Sweden), Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), Paul Casey, Jean Van de Velde (France).
70 — Jarrod Moseley (Australia), Rolf Muntz (Netherlands), Adam Scott (Australia), John Bickerton, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Denmark), Emanuele Canonica (Italy), Mark Davis, Bradley Dredge, Steen Tinning (Denmark), Gary Emerson, Simon Dyson, Diego Borrego (Spain), Mikko Ilonen (Finland), Philip Golding.—Reuters