Bet on this tournament & other sports here

Lehman takes over lead with 66

Tom Lehman fired his second consecutive round of five-under 66 to claim the lead at 10- under-par 132 after Friday's second round of the Worldcom Classic at Harbour Town Golf Links. Billy Andrade shot 67 for a share of second place at nine-under with first-round co-leaders Vijay Singh and Billy Mayfair, who each had 68s.

Carl Paulson set a new front-nine record at Harbour Town with a seven-under 29 en route to his season-low round of 63. He is tied for fifth with Mike Sposa at minus-eight. Sposa turned in a second-round 67.

Lehman began on the back side with five straight pars before making a bogey at the par-five 15th. His day could have taken a turn for the worse when he missed the green with approach at the next hole, but he managed to save par from 10 feet after a poor chip.

Lehman came roaring back with birdies at the 18th and first holes followed by a tap-in for eagle.

"Hit a four-iron just exactly the way I wanted to, high draw into the wind," Lehman said of his second shot to the par-five second. "Slightly hit it right from the front part of the green, released up, just past the hole about 12 inches away. To me, those are the real momentum builders. You don't have to think about making a putt. You walk up, tap-in, away you go."

Lehman tacked on birdies at holes five and six for sole possession of the lead heading into the weekend.

A year ago, Lehman had the clubhouse lead with a 65 in the final round but was relegated to second place when Stewart Cink birdied three of the last four holes for a 65 of his own and the victory.

Singh made four birdies and no bogeys through 15 holes to top the leaderboard at 10-under. However, he was warned for slow play toward the end of his round and proceeded to close with his first bogey of the week.

"I got a little rushed by the official on the last two or three holes. It messed up my rhythm," said Singh, who was paired with the infamously slow Bernhard Langer and Glen Day on Friday. "I am a fast player but if I get any quicker I get rushed. I wasn't in a very good frame of mind when playing the shot on 18, because I felt I was on the run."

Singh, who posted back-to-back victories on the European Tour's Asian swing in February, has five top-five finishes in nine PGA Tour starts this season, including two second-place showings. He was runner-up to Davis Love III at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, then late last month finished one stroke back of Tiger Woods at The Players Championship.

"The way I'm putting, I think I have a very good chance of shooting another low round tomorrow," he added. "I have always been catching up to the leaders, but I am in better position now than I have been any other tournament."

Mayfair hit it close three times on the back nine Friday for birdies, while Andrade's round featured five birdies in a row from the 16th to the second.

Paulson, a graduate of the University of South Carolina, registered just one birdie on his front nine before exploding for five birdies and an eagle on the way in. His 63 was one stroke off his career-best score, which came in the opening round of the 1995 Walt Disney World Classic.

Love, a four-time winner of this event, shot a 67 and is just three shots off the pace at 135 with John Cook, Scott Verplank, Brad Elder and Mark Brooks.

Defending champion Cink finished 36 holes at two-under par with 11 others, including Australians Greg Norman and Robert Allenby.

The cut came at even-par 142 and included a total of 75 players. Ben Crenshaw was on the wrong side of the line, as his rounds of 76-82 saw him miss the cut for the first time in his 13 appearances in this event.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page