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Goydos edges ahead of chasing pack

Paul Goydos posted his second consecutive round of four-under 68 on Friday to grab a one-shot lead at eight-under 136 after 36 holes of the Bay Hill Invitational.

Chris Perry, Sergio Garcia, Scott McCarron, Fulton Allem and Grant Waite are tied for second at seven-under par.

Tiger Woods, the defending champion, fired a bogey-free, five- under 67 on Friday to get to six-under for the tournament. Woods is joined at 138 by Robert Damron, David Frost, Steve Lowery and two of Thursday's five co-leaders, Mark Calcavecchia and Phil Mickelson.

Goydos, the 1996 champion of this event, opened with a seven-foot birdie at the first hole at Bay Hill Club and Lodge and then chipped to four feet at the par-five fourth to set up his second birdie of the round.

The '96 champ wedged his third at the 558-yard sixth to eight feet, where he ran home the birdie effort. He closed his front nine with a birdie at the par-four eighth when he drained a 30-foot bomb.

"I hit a perfect putt," said Goydos, referring to his birdie at eight. "It broke about four feet and went right into the center. It was one of those luck putts."

Goydos played a nine-iron approach at the 13th to one foot for the tap-in birdie, but trouble loomed at the next two holes. At 14, Goydos could not convert a 10-foot par save and then, after landing in a left bunker, he could not hole a 25-footer for par at 15.

He quickly reclaimed one of the lost strokes from the two previous holes with a 20-foot birdie putt at 16 after his drive angled off the cart path onto the fairway. Goydos holed a 10-footer for par at 17 and then two-putted from 30 feet at the last for his 68.

"I think I've got a lot of confidence," said Goydos, who finished tied for 10th here last year. "Once you start getting the flow of the putter, you don't feel like you've got to hit it to three feet to make birdie anymore."

Perry and Garcia shot matching 66s on Friday. Perry mixed eight birdies and two bogeys while the young Spaniard carded six birdies on his second nine for his six-under score.

"It was a very good round," Garcia said. "My putter has let me down a little. Other than that, I am hitting the ball well and I'm hitting my irons well."

McCarron eagled the fourth with a 10-foot putt but posted back- to-back bogeys at seven and eight. He came back with birdies at 12 and 13 and could have grabbed a piece of the lead but lipped out a three- footer for birdie at the last. He finished the second round with a five-under 67.

Allem racked up five birdies and no bogeys on the back to jump up the leaderboard while Waite, a co-leader after Thursday's first round, shot a one-under 71.

Woods picked up two early birdies at two and three and then added another at the par-five sixth for a front-nine 33. He birdied the two par-fives on the back for his 67.

The defending champion is still in search of his first win in the 2001 campaign. When he won this event last year, it was his third victory of the season.

Woods still remained confident that he could pick up win number- one of the season.

"I feel like obviously I left a couple shots out there, just because of the fact that I made triple," said Woods, who posted a triple-bogey seven on his second-to-last hole on Thursday. "But I feel like I'm hitting the ball really crisp and I really feel pretty good over my putts."

Steve Pate, another co-leader after Thursday's first round, shot a one-over 73 on Friday and is tied with two-time U.S. Open champ Lee Janzen at five-under.

The 36-hole cut fell at one-over 145. Among the notable players who failed to qualify for the weekend are: European stars Jose Maria Olazabal, Darren Clarke and Miguel Angel Jimenez; Justin Leonard; and John Daly, who made a run for the top of the leaderboard at last week's Honda Classic.

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