Waldorf takes narrow advantage

In his debut as the youngest rookie in PGA Tour history, 17-year-old Ty Tryon already reached one of his goals.

``I made it to the weekend,'' he said.

True, but only because it was too dark to finish his second round Friday.

Unless he makes eagle on his final three holes when he returns Saturday -- that would be more amazing than earning his PGA Tour card despite having two years of high school remaining -- Tryon's first tournament of the year will end most unceremoniously.

On a day when Duffy Waldorf holed some long putts to take the lead and John Daly sent the raucous crowds into a frenzy, the teen-ager sputtered along and remained at 6-over par for the tournament when play was suspended by darkness.

Tryon wanted to keep playing. He made back-to-back birdies, then carved a 4-iron out of the desert, around a tree and over the water to the par-5 15th, the ball landing about 10 feet behind the pin before it ran over the back of the green.

``Best shot I never saw,'' he joked.

He'll see better weeks than this, but he had few complaints.

``A great experience,'' Tryon said. ``I felt a lot more comfortable with the crowds.''

Not many watched Waldorf, and they missed him chipping in for birdie from 25 feet, holing two long birdie putts and also a 35-footer for eagle. It added up to his second straight 6-under 65 and putting him at 130 at the halfway point.

He had a one-stroke lead over Vijay Singh (65) and Rory Sabbatini (64).

The best finish of the day belonged to Davis Love III. He was 2-over and simply wanting to finish his round so he wouldn't have to join the other 25 players who have to return Saturday morning to finish.

Instead, Love hit driver on the 332-yard 17th hole to 6 feet and made eagle, then hit out of the bunker to 5 feet for birdie on the 18th to finish at 69 and make the cut.

Chris DiMarco (64) and Skip Kendall (66) were at 132.

Daly was another stroke back on the leaderboard after a 65, but he was the easiest guy to find on the TPC of Scottsdale. Just look for the mammoth crowds, beer in hand screaming at the top of their lungs.

Daly didn't disappoint.

He birdied his first three holes and was two strokes off the lead and facing a 50-foot eagle putt. That's where the momentum slowed.

He three-putted for par, then walked through the tunnel to the 16th arena to the chants of ``Da-lee! Da-lee!'' His 9-iron from 171 yards landed past the hole and went over the green and he made a nice par save.

His drive on the 17th landed near the green but hopped into the water, and he failed to get up-and-down for par. Daly also missed an 18-foot birdie putt in the dark on his final hole.

Still, he was right where he wanted to be -- in contention in front of a supportive crowd.

``Whether they were drinking or they were sober, they were pulling for me,'' he said. ``I like it when it gets a little rowdy. I feed off that.''

Daly is No. 50 in the world ranking and needs to stay there for seven more weeks to make the Masters, so a good start to the year is important.

Waldorf is also anxious to start strong, for no other reason than last year was his worst on the PGA Tour in 11 years -- only one top 10 finish, and 120th on the money list.

``I felt like I needed to improve my short game and chipping and putting,'' Waldorf said. ``I've been trying to be a little more aggressive around the greens.''

The certainly helped on Friday, which turned out to be a pleasant day after a 45-minute frost delay.

Waldorf missed par putts of 4 and 5 feet early on, but atoned for those in a big way.

He got on track by reaching the par-5 15th with a 5-iron from 210 yards, then making the 35-foot eagle putt. He zoomed past Singh on the front nine, chipping in from 25 feet on No. 5 and holing putts of 25 and 40 feet at Nos. 6 and 8.

``I was almost better off putting long ones for birdie than short ones for par,'' he said.

Singh went about his 65 in a more conventional manner -- none of his seven birdie putts were longer than 8 feet, and he took advantage of the par 5s and the short par-4 17th.

The former Masters and PGA champion is coming off one of the longest breaks of his career, although not entirely by choice.

The Phoenix Open is his first start of the year. He missed the Mercedes Championships because he didn't win last year on the PGA Tour.

He became the first player to earn $3 million without winning on tour, so the year wasn't a total loss. And he did win the Masters and the Open -- although that was the Singapore Masters and the Malaysian Open.

Still, it was the first time since 1996 he didn't win on U.S. soil.

``Pretty disappointing,'' Singh said. ``I had a lot of chances, especially about the last three or four weeks, and I didn't take it. It wasn't because I wasn't playing well. I just was making the mistakes that I wasn't supposed to going into the last days. So, I had to work on that a little.''

He'll find out how much it has paid off over the next two days.

Divots

Cameron Beckman had another 67 and was four shots out of the lead. More significant is that for the third time this year, he holed out for eagle from the fairway using his 56-degree sand wedge. This time it came on the par-4 sixth from 110 yards. He also holed out from 92 yards at the Bob Hope Classic and from 90 yards at the Mercedes Championships. ... Mike Sposa made a hole-in-one on the raucous par-3 16th, which has bleachers down both sides of the 170-yard hole. He used a 7-iron, and threw his hat toward the gallery. WhenWoods made an ace on the 16th in 1997, the gallery threw beer cups at him.

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