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| June 5, 2005 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 27, 1426 |
Woods back but Sluman still in front
DUBLIN (Ohio), June 4: American Jeff Sluman fired a one-under 71 to cling to the second round lead at the Memorial Tournament on Friday, one stroke clear of a large group led by Tiger Woods. Sluman, who began the day with a one-shot lead after a sizzling opening 65, maintained his advantage with a more modest effort at the Muirfield Village Golf Club, mixing two birdies with his only bogey through two rounds to sit on eight-under 136.
Lurking one shot back at 137 are Americans Woods, Jonathan Kaye, Harrison Frazar and Lucas Glover and Australian Nick O’Hern.
Playing for the first time since his record streak of 142 consecutive cuts at US PGA Tour events came to an shuddering end at the Byron Nelson championship three weeks ago, Woods was quickly back in familiar form firing four birdies through his first seven holes.
But a bogey on the 17th, his first in two rounds, dropped the Masters champion from the top of leaderboard leaving him with a tidy four-under 68, one shot off the pace and in contention for a fourth Memorial title.
World number one Vijay Singh made a shock exit, stumbling to a two-over 74 after an even more disappointing five-over 72 opening effort on Thursday to miss the two-over cut by a massive five strokes.
Tournament host Jack Nicklaus also failed to make the cut and made an emotional farewell, saying later that it was probably his final competitive round on US soil.
Leading second round scores:
136 — Jeff Sluman (US) 65, 71.
137 — Lucas Glover (US) 67, 70; Nick O’Hern (Australia) 67, 70; Harrison Frazar (US) 69, 68; Jonathan Kaye (US) 67, 70; Tiger Woods (US) 69, 68.
138 — Tim Herron (US) 68, 70; Bart Bryant (US) 69, 69; Steve Flesch (US) 69, 69; Fred Couples (US) 71, 67; Stewart Cink (US) 69, 69.
139 — Jay Haas (US) 69, 70; Peter Lonard (Australia) 71, 68; Bo Van Pelt (US) 67, 72; Richard Green (Australia) 67, 72.
140 — Billy Andrade (US) 69, 71; Mark O’Meara (US) 70, 70; Adam Scott (Australia) 67, 73; Woody Austin (US) 67, 73; Dudley Hart (US) 72, 68; David Toms (US) 70, 70; Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 66, 74; Ian Poulter (Britain) 68, 72; Alex Cejka (Germany) 69, 71.
141 — Joe Ogilvie (US) 67, 74; Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 70, 71; Kenny Perry (US) 69, 72; Scott Verplank (US) 75, 66; Stephen Leaney (Australia) 71, 70; Ryan Palmer (US) 69, 72; Jerry Kelly (US) 70, 71; Zach Johnson (US) 73, 68; K.J. Choi (South Korea) 69, 72.
MONTY EXITS
NEWPORT (Wales): Colin Montgomerie clattered out of the Wales Open on Friday, citing tiredness for a second round six-over-par 75 that included three double-bogeys.
That left him eight-over-par, well over the cut-off mark and 19 strokes behind the second round pace-setter Alessandro Tadini of Italy who fired a course record 62 to lead by two shots.
Seven-time European number one Montgomerie has mounted an all-out effort over the last few weeks to scrape into the US Open field, having failed to make the US Masters.
Tadini at first stormed into a five-shot lead with four birdies in five holes after the turn, breaking the Roman Road course record by a stroke with his 62.
Britain’s David Lynn looked like catching the Italian in the afternoon but faltered with two late bogeys for a 66 that left him in second place.
Leading second round scores:
127 — Alessandro Tadini (Italy) 65, 62.
129 — David Lynn (Britain) 63, 66.
130 — Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 63, 67.
131 — Jean-Francois Lucquin (France) 65, 66.
132 — Christian Cevaer (France) 67, 65; Francois Delamontagne (France) 66, 66; Richard Finch (Britain) 67, 65; James Heath (Britain) 63, 69; Benoit Teilleria (France) 63, 69; Ian Woosnam (Britain) 64, 68.
133 — Kenneth Ferrie (Britain) 65, 68; Raphael Jacquelin (France) 67, 66; Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) 68, 65; Stuart Little (Britain) 64, 69.
134 — Gary Emerson (Britain) 63, 71; Martin Erlandsson (Sweden) 69, 65; Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 66, 68; Joakim Haeggman (Sweden) 68, 66; Ben Mason (Britain) 67, 67; Marten Olander (Sweden) 67, 67; Oliver Wilson (Britain) 67, 67.
135 — Emanuele Canonica (Italy) 67, 68; Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 67, 68; Jan-Are Larsen (Norway) 67, 68; Paul Lawrie (Britain) 67, 68; Jose-Filipe Lima (Portugal) 65, 70; Miguel Angel Martin (Spain) 69, 66; Wade Ormsby (Australia) 67, 68; David Park (Britain) 68, 67; Jarmo Sandelin (Sweden) 68 67; Peter Senior (Australia) 63, 72; Leif Westerberg (Sweden) 66, 69.—Reuters
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