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Howell & Furyk tied for lead

Charles Howell III is more comfortable now that he's won on the PGA Tour. Jim Furyk, it seems, is always comfortable in Las Vegas.

Both felt good enough Thursday to get well under par for a second day and share the lead at 12 under through two rounds of the 90-hole Invensys Classic at Las Vegas.

"This is a fun tournament," Furyk said. "I like it in Las Vegas."

Furyk has good reason to like his surroundings. Before he won the Memorial earlier this year, half of his six tour wins came in Las Vegas.

After adding a 65 to his opening-round 66, he also liked his chances going into the final three rounds of an event he won in 1995 and again in 1998 and 1999.

"I just know I put myself in good position," Furyk said. "There's three rounds to be played and all of them for me are at (TPC) Summerlin. That's good for me."

Both Howell and Furyk took advantage of early tee times before winds picked up and scores went up in the afternoon.

Howell coming off his first win last week at the Michelob Championship, got to 12 under with an eagle on 13, then parred the rest of the way in for a 65 as the wind began to pick up in the desert.

"Now that I've won a tournament I'm probably a little more relaxed," Howell said. "That's probably the No. 1 thing. I'm just more relaxed."

Howell, who moved to 18th on the money list with the win, said not having to worry about qualifying for the Masters and the Tour Championship helped him in the first two rounds.

"I know in a perfect world you're not supposed to think about those things," he said. "But they're in the back of your mind."

Howell and Furyk were both at 12 under, though Furyk's total of 131 was a stroke better because one of his rounds came on the par-71 TPC Canyons course, one of three in rotation in the pro-am event.

The leaderboard was crowded, though scores weren't as low as they were the first round when U.S. Open winners Lee Janzen and Steve Jones both finished 9 under.

Janzen followed his 63 with a 74 in the second round, but Jones was among a group of five one shot off the lead after shooting a 70 at TPC Summerlin despite a double bogey on the par-3 14th.

"You either let it affect you or say I'm playing good and go get it," Jones said.

Tied with Jones were Jeff Sluman (66), Chris DiMarco (67), Frank Lickliter II (65) and Michael Clark II (67).

Jones was playing with a new two-ball putter he put in his bag in his last tournament, after 20 years of playing a Bullseye putter.

Perhaps more importantly, he was playing after undergoing a six-hour surgery in August to try and correct an irregular heartbeat that has bothered him for years and has gotten progressively worse.

For the last four years, Jones has been taking beta blockers to control the condition, but the drugs left him plodding and unable to play with emotion.

"I have no adrenaline rush. It's hard to stay up when there's like 100 pounds on you," he said. "When you have adrenaline you focus better."

Jones, who has struggled in recent years, said he is being weaned off the beta blockers, and plans to quit them entirely on Sunday. After that, he'll find out whether the procedure - which he said has an 80 percent success rate - worked.

"I already feel better," he said. "With me, it was always the same on the medication - and that's no good." The host TPC Summerlin course played to a 70.4 average in the second round, two shots worse than the opening round. ... Furyk has led or shared the lead in nine different rounds in Las Vegas.

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