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| March 26, 2006 | Sunday | Safar 25, 1427 |
Golf: Furyk clings to lead amid global chase
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida, March 25: American Jim Furyk clung to a one-stroke lead after 36 holes at the US PGA Players Championship, where a host of global rivals kept applying pressure.
Furyk fired a one-under par 71 here Friday to stand on eight-under 136 after two rounds, one stroke ahead of Canada’s Stephen Ames, the 2002 Players runner-up, and Australian Adam Scott, the 2004 Players winner.
“I could have played better, could have played worse,” Furyk said. “I’m in good position and I need to figure out how to get it around for the next 36 holes.”
Two-time champion Davis Love, who had been a co-leader with Furyk when the day began, will not have that problem. Love fired an 83, his worst score in 69 rounds here at Sawgrass, and finished on 148 to miss the cut by four strokes.
“Every time I missed a fairway I was in a bad place,” Love said. “Sometimes I couldn’t even chip out. I hit it bad off the tee and never gave myself a chance to play, so that’s frustrating. It was just one of those days.”
Ames fired a 66 while Scott shot 67 to move one stroke ahead of Fiji’s Vijay Singh, Spain’s Sergio Garcia and South Korea’s K.J. Choi.
World number one Tiger Woods fired a 69 to enter the weekend in a share of 20th, five strokes off the pace.
The reigning Masters champion, mindful of his father’s health woes, struggled at the finish, nearly putting off the island green on 17 into the water and driving into the water at the par-five 18th before sinking a 30-foot par putt.
Scott sank a 12-foot par putt at the 16th hole and finished with back-to-back birdies to make his run at the top.
Ames, humbled a month ago by Woods 9 and 8 in the first round of the World Golf Championships Match-Play event, sank a 12-foot birdie at the 18th to serve notice he would not be so easy a victim this week.
England’s Greg Owen, who missed putts of two- and three- feet on the 17th and made bogey at 18 last Sunday to hand Rod Pampling a victory at the Bay Hill Invitational, fired a 68 to stand in a group three strokes off the pace.
Owen has received encouragement from his rivals, including Woods.
Owen needs to rise three places in the rankings to reach the top 50 and qualify for next month’s Masters, the year’s first major championship.
Leading second round scores
136 - Jim Furyk 65-71
137 - Stephen Ames 71-66, Adam Scott 70-67
138 - K.J. Choi 69-69, Sergio Garcia 70-68, Vijay Singh 68-70
139 - Brad Faxon 70-69, Steve Flesch 69-70, Fred Funk 70-69, Arron Oberholser 68-71, Jose Maria Olazabal 68-71, Greg Owen 71-68, John Rollins 68-71, Bo Van Pelt 68-71
140 - Robert Allenby 67-73, Retief Goosen 69-71, Tom Pernice 70-70, Ian Poulter 72-68, Henrik Stenson 69-71
141 - Joe Durant 69-72, Todd Fischer 73-68, Fredrik Jacobson 69-72, Miguel Angel Jimenez 67-74, Carl Pettersson 71-70, Kirk Triplett 70-71, Tiger Woods 72-69
142 - Thomas Bjorn 69-73, Bernhard Langer 67-75, Ernie Els 72-70, Carlos Franco 71-71, David Howell) 71-71, Richard S. Johnson 72-70, Mike Weir 71-71
143 - Darren Clarke 73-70, Brian Davis 70-73, Shingo Katayama 70-73, Craig Parry 70-73, Nick Price 72-71, Lee Westwood 70-73
144 - Nathan Green 72-72, Mark Hensby 71-73, Peter Lonard 71-73, Jesper Parnevik 72-72, Camilo Villegas
Failed to qualify
145 - Michael Campbell 72-73, John Senden 73-72, Angel Cabrera 72-73, Ryuji Imada 73-72, Stuart Appleby 73-72, Nick O’Hern 71-74
146 - Padraig Harrington 73-73
147 - Luke Donald 73-74
148 - Colin Montgomerie 72-76
149 - Daniel Chopra 70-79, Tim Clark 77-72
150 - Paul McGinley 77-73, Rod Pampling 74-76, Justin Rose 78-72
151 - Arjun Atwal 76-75, Stephen Leaney 72-79
152 - Hidemichi Tanaka 75-77
153 - Rory Sabbatini 72-81, Aaron Baddeley 77-76
155 - Nick Faldo 76-79, Geoff Ogilvy 78-77, Craig Perks 79-76
WD - Shigeki Maruyama 78.—AFP
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