Love tops leaderboard again

Davis Love III is back on the top of the leaderboard, not unfamiliar territory even though he has not won in 48 PGA Tour tournaments.

With an up-and-down 4-under-par 66 today, Love moved to 7-under for a two-stroke lead during the second round of the MasterCard Colonial that was twice suspended because of rain and lightning.

Play never resumed after the second suspension, which came at 5:43 p.m. EDT with exactly half of the remaining 106 players in the field still on the course. The second round will be completed Saturday morning before the cut is made for the third round.

Love also led after two rounds last week in the GTE Byron Nelson Classic, only to lose in a playoff and finish second for the seventh time during his winless drought that dates to the 1998 MCI Classic.

"I feel like I'm very close to playing great," said Love, a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour. "I hope I can settle down this weekend and play good, steady golf."

Phil Mickelson, who also got into the three-way Nelson playoff won by Jesper Parnevik on the third extra hole, had a 68 today to share second place with Rocco Mediate, Mike Weir, and Greg Kraft.

Love's game was anything but steady on his second nine holes today. After a 30-foot putt on the 383-yard 17th hole capped his stretch of three straight birdies, the roller-coaster ride began on Colonial's front side.

On No. 1, a 565-yard par 5, Love drove wide left of the fairway and then laid up into the rough. He hit a pitching wedge to set up a 2-foot birdie putt and start a stretch of six straight holes without a par.

He had a bogey at No. 2 after his approach bounced over the green and he mishit his chip shot. Two birdies followed before a double bogey out of the fairway at the 470-yard, par-4 fifth when his approach shot hit a tree short of the green. His pitch shot found the green 15 feet past the hole, and then he three-putted.

"I played steady on the first nine and was all over the place on the second nine," Love said. "I wish I could blame it on the wind or something, but I just didn't go a very good job of being consistent."

After the double bogey, Love rebounded with a 10-foot birdie putt on the next hole only to miss the fairway for another bogey at No. 7. He finally had a front-side par before finishing with another birdie.

Kraft, who has never won in his nine seasons on the PGA Tour, got to 7-under with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 433-yard 12th hole. His downfall was also a double bogey, this one at the 178-yard, par-3 13th after his 7-iron shot hit the bank and rolled back into the water.

"My bad judgment shot of the day," Kraft said. "I had the right club and I hit right at it. That pin was just a sucker pin and I'm a sucker."

Love, Mickelson, and Kraft had been among a group of eight players that finished the first round with 67s, a stroke behind John Cook.

Mickelson, who has won twice this season and has four straight top-20 finishes, finished his morning round just before the first rain delay, one that lasted nearly two hours. He had four birdies and two bogeys.

"I'm not disappointed by any means, and not overly excited," Mickelson said. "I hit the ball really well, but I didn't get much out of the round. I struggled on the greens making 12- to 15-foot putts, which is typical here."

Cook, who took sole possession of the first-round lead with a late eagle, followed his opening 66 with a 70 today and dropped three strokes off the lead.

Also at 4-under 136 with Cook were Tim Herron, who had a 66 today, Scott Dunlap, and Skip Kendall.

David Toms and Keith Clearwater, the 1987 Colonial champion who is 14th on the Buy.com Tour money list, were both still on the course at 4-under when play was suspended the second time. Clearwater had played 10 holes and Toms was through five.

The cut will be the top 70 scores and ties. When play was suspended, there were 72 players at 3-over or better. Defending champion Olin Browne, who was finished with his second round, was one of five players at 4-over.

DIVOTS: Tommy Armour III, who had an opening-round 10-over 80, was 13 strokes better with a 67 today but still will miss the cut. ... Only Ben Hogan has ever successfully defended a title at Colonial, and he did it twice, the first two tournaments in 1946-47 and again in 1952-53. ... Four champions in the 1990s missed the cut the following year at Colonial: Ben Crenshaw (1991), Tom Purtzer (1992), Fulton Allem (1994), and Tom Lehman (1996).

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