0
CHASKA (Minnesota), Aug 17: World number one Tiger Woods was again seeking stay in contention to win a major in unfavourable weather conditions Saturday at the PGA Championship.
Woods, 26, who shot a third-round 81 in atrocious weather conditions that ended his hopes of winning last month’s British Open, was scheduled to complete the final two holes of his second round on Saturday morning.
Heavy rain and lightning forced the suspension of play at 2338 GMT on Friday. Second-round play was expected to resume at 1230 on Saturday.
Woods was at two-under-par through 16 holes and three under for the championship when play was suspended. Fred Funk, who is also yet to complete his round has the best score at seven-under-par with five holes to complete in his round.
Mark Calcavecchia, Justin Leonard and Rich Beem have the best completed second round scores of six-under 138.
Early forecasts predict the rain to move through by the start of play on Saturday, but that winds could be up to 40 mph (64 kph).
Woods birdied the par-three fourth, the par-four fifth and the par-five seventh to go out in three-under 33 and move to four-under for the championship but then played steadily to par until he bogeyed the par-three 13th hole.
Woods and playing partners David Toms and Ernie Els were on the par-three 17th hole when play was suspended.
Completed second round scores on Friday (US unless stated):
138 — Justin Leonard 72, 66; Mark Calcavecchia 70, 68; Rich Beem 72, 66; Retief Goosen (South Africa) 69, 69.
140 — Pierre Fulke (Sweden) 72, 68.
141 — Kenny Perry 73, 68; Chris Riley 71, 70; Charles Howell III 72, 69; Jim Furyk 68, 73.
142 — Robert Allenby (Australia) 76, 66; Bernhard Langer (Germany) 70, 72; Adam Scott (Australia) 71, 71; Soren Hansen (Denmark) 73, 69; Steve Lowery 71, 71; Peter Lonard (Australia) 69, 73.
143 — Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 73, 70; Tom Lehman 71, 72.
144 — Kirk Triplett 75, 69; Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 71, 73.
145 — Neal Lancaster 72, 73; Joe Durant 74, 71; Jeff Sluman 70, 75; Chris DiMarco 76, 69; Greg Norman (Australia) 71, 74.
Other international players:
146 — Tim Clark (South Africa) 72, 74.
147 — Nick Faldo (Britain) 71, 76; Mike Weir (Canada) 73, 74; Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 74, 73.
148 — Thomas Levet (France) 78, 70; Shigeki Maruyama 76, 72; Jose Maria Olazabal 73, 75; Craig Perks (New Zealand) 72, 76; Sergio Garcia (Spain) 75, 73.
149 — K.J. Choi (South Korea) 78, 71; Ian Leggatt (Canada) 75, 74; Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 72, 77; Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland) 79, 70; Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 74, 75; Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 74, 75; Paul Lawrie (Britain) 75, 74.
150 — Eduardo Romero (Argentina) 73, 77; Ian Woosnam (Britain) 77, 73.
151 — Taichi Teshima (Japan) 77, 74.
152 — Anders Hansen (Denmark) 79, 73; Craig Parry (Australia) 75, 77; Toru Taniguchi (Japan) 75, 77; Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 77, 75; Colin Montgomerie 74, 78.
153 — Peter O’Malley (Australia) 79, 74.
156 — Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 79, 77; Scott Laycock (Australia) 80, 76.
158 — Lee Westwood (Britain) 75, 83.
159 — Phillip Price 76, 83; Paul Casey (Britain) 85, 74.
BALLYLIFFIN (Ireland): Overnight leader Costantino Rocca fired a second-round 69 Friday to increase the likelihood of a third Italian victory in four years at the North West of Ireland Open.
Former Ryder Cup player Rocca, who won the inaugural event in 1999 before compatriot Massimo Scarpa triumphed a year later, moved one stroke clear of the field at four-under-par 140 after 36 holes.
Another Italian, Massimo Florioli, was alone in second place after reeling off four birdies for a two-under-par 70 in calmer conditions on day two at the tough Ballyliffin links.
A further stroke back in a tie for third at two-under 142 were two players who broke the ‘Glashedy’ course record during the day — Frenchman Jean-Francois Lucquin and Scot Andrew Coltart.
Leading second round scores (Britain unless stated):
140 — Costantino Rocca (Italy) 71, 69.
141 — Massimo Florioli (Italy) 71, 70.
142 — Jean-Francois Lucquin (France) 75, 67; Andrew Coltart 76, 66.
143 — Allan Hogh (Denmark) 71, 72; Jesus Maria Arruti (Spain) 71, 72.
144 — Mark Sanders 72, 72; Anders Forsbrand (Sweden) 71, 73; Adam Mednick (Sweden) 76, 68.
145 — Pehr Magnebrant (Sweden) 72, 73; Damien McGrane (Ireland) 72, 73; Per Nyman (Sweden) 76, 69; Philip Walton (Ireland) 75, 70; Adam Crawford (Australia) 77, 68.
146 — Iain Pyman 76, 70; Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 75, 71; Olivier Edmond (France) 77, 69; Ciaran McMonagle (Ireland) 74, 72; Andrew Oldcorn 77, 69; James S. Lee 75, 71; Simon Khan 74, 72.
147 — David Park 75, 72; Titch Moore (South Africa) 73, 74; Denny Lucas 76, 71; Marco Bernardini (Italy) 76, 71; Euan Little 74, 73; Michael Welch 74, 73; Didier De Vooght (Belgium) 78, 69; Marcus Knight (Switzerland) 77, 70; James Kingston (South Africa) 77, 70; Joakim Rask (Sweden) 75, 72.—Reuters
