Lancaster & Andrade tie for lead

Neal Lancaster made birdie from a badly repaired divot, made par when his ball ricocheted off a hazard stake and finished off another entertaining round with a 5-under 67 to share the lead with Billy Andrade at the Canadian Open on Friday.

Lancaster was tied for the lead at 11-under 133 with Andrade (67), who won the Canadian Open four years ago at Glen Abbey.

Lancaster's only victory came at the '94 Nelson Classic, which was only 36 holes because of rain. He hasn't been a 36-hole leader in four years.

"One thing about this game, if you play it long enough, you're going to see more disappointment than you're going to see success, unless you're Tiger Woods," he said. "I've seen a lot of disappointment, so I can pretty much handle anything."

He and Andrade might have to handle a partisan crowd cheering behind them.

Ian Leggatt put himself in great position to become the first Canadian-born winner of his national championship since Karl Keffer in 1914. He birdied four of his last five holes for a 65 that left him one stroke behind, along with Grant Waite (70).

"For me to be able to do something special like that would be equal with winning a Masters or a U.S. Open," Leggatt said.

Carlos Franco (68) and Corey Pavin (66) were another stroke back.

Andrade played it safe on the 18th after driving into the hazard. Instead of trying to hack it out and bring more problems into play, he chipped sideways, then stuffed a wedge into 2 feet (0.6 meters) to save par - and his round.

"If it was the 72nd hole and I needed to make a birdie to win, I might have given it a shot," he said. "The rule of thumb is you can lose it, but you can't win it on Friday. If I didn't get it out, now I'm ruining everything I've accomplished for 35 holes."

Now, he's got every reason to believe he can win the Canadian Open and give himself a chance of making the Tour Championship at the end of the year at East Lake in Atlanta, where he is a member.

Plus, he gets to hang out Saturday with Lancaster.

"He's a good ol' country boy from North Carolina," Andrade said. "He's a breath of fresh air. I'm looking forward to playing with him."

Lancaster isn't fond of early tee times. "The only time you play golf then is because you can't get a tee time, or you have a wife you have to get away from," he said. And he didn't get off to a great start at 7:39 a.m.

He brought a pond into play on the opening hole and had to play away from the green with a wedge in his hand, making bogey. He was headed for another one when his drive on the fourth hole landed in a mangled divot.

"The group in front of us, one of the caddies didn't fix the divot - kind of half-fixed," he said. "I just beat down on a wedge from 132 yards (120 meters). Kind of skulled it."

It wound up 20 feet (6 meters) behind the hole, and the birdie putt got him back on track.

There was one close call on No. 8. He hooked his drive toward the trees, but it caromed off a red hazard stake, struck a couple of trees, bounced down the cart path and left him only a wedge into the green for an otherwise routine par.

"Had red paint all over my ball," Lancaster said.

There haven't been many dull moments for Lancaster this week.

His caddie's car broke down on the way to Toronto, so Lancaster called up Kenny Doig, who lives in the area and has worked for him in the past. They make for quite a pair, both of them chatting up a storm except when Lancaster is hitting a shot.

Even then, Lancaster is known to grunt and groan as he tries to get comfortable over the ball, and he constantly talks to himself - not all of it is pleasant.

"That's one thing about playing here in Canada," he said. "I can say just about everything, and these people won't understand me."

No, but they appreciate good golf.

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