Three tied for lead at halfway

Rookie Ryuji Imada and PGA Tour veterans Mike Heinen and David Berganio share the 36-hole lead at 5-under-par 139 midway through the $400,000 BUY.COM Virginia Beach Open.

Imada and Heinen carded 4-under-par 68s in Friday's second round at the Tournament Players Club of Virginia Beach while Berganio added a 70 to his opening 69 to join the group. Berganio blew a chance for the outright lead when he missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the final hole.

Bo Van Pelt (67), Chris Smith (68) and Todd Demsey (69) are tied for fourth at 4-under-par, while another three players -- Tim Clark (67), Brian Tennyson (69) and Kent Jones (70) -- are just two off the pace. A total of 64 players in the field of 144 made the cut, which came at 3-over-par 147, the highest cut on TOUR this year.

Imada, who left the University of Georgia last year after two seasons, started on the back nine with two bogeys in his first three holes and was headed in the wrong direction early in his round.

A member of Georgia's 1999 NCAA championship team, Imada finally righted the ship with a birdie at the par-5 16th hole.

"That was real big for me," he said. "You get the feeling out here you're not going to get too many birdies. Plus, the wind pretty much died down and the rest of the golf course, especially the front nine, played about as easy as it's going to get."

The Pete Dye-designed TPC course played to a scoring average of 73.3 for Friday's round, more than two full strokes lower than Thursday's wind-plagued average of 75.453.

"I've played really well the past two days and I know if I play well, I'll be up there," said the 23-year-old Imada, who is leading a tournament for the first time in his brief professional career.

Heinen, who has 10 years of professional experience, including a win at the 1994 Shell Houston Open, had been at home in Louisiana for the past few weeks waiting to see if his number would be called as an alternate. The 33-year-old got word late Tuesday night and walked the golf course during Wednesday's pro-am.

"I just got a yardage book and started walking. I had no clue where anything was. I just tried to figure out where to hit it. There aren't a lot of visual targets out here," he said.

Whatever he saw, or didn't see, must look pretty good following his bogey-free 68 Friday.

"I like the fact that you have to drive it straight and hit it long," said Heinen, who ranks No. 4 in average driving distance (293.4 yards) this year. "Long and straight is really a plus. I didn't hit a lot of fairways (7 of 14) but I hit a lot of good drivers."

Heinen had a bundle of chances to make birdie, missing only one green where he was forced to get up-and-down from a bunker. Otherwise, he stared at 17 birdie putts, the longest being 25 feet. He managed to make four of them.

"I like walking off a golf course after shooting a 68 and feeling good about it," he said. "I love being 5 under and leading rather than 5 under and making the cut by one."

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