| Three
share 36 hole lead Bob
Gilder blew his cool and broke a finger at last year's Countrywide Tradition.
This year he's
cool, calm, collected -- and in a three-way tie for the lead halfway through the
season's first major on the Senior PGA Tour. Gilder,
Bob Eastwood and Jim Thorpe were at 7-under 137 through 36 holes of the Tradition
on Friday. Tour rookie Fuzzy Zoeller was one shot back at 138. In
the second round of the same tournament a year ago, Gilder was frustrated by a
series of bad rough shots and slammed his club into his bag. ``I
knew it hurt bad enough to have been broken, but I didn't find out until two weeks
later and had an X-ray,'' he said. ``It was split in half and that sucker hurt.''
The injury bothered
him the rest of the year. ``I
was a little embarrassed. That's not something I'm real proud of,'' Gilder said.
``So we're trying to make up for it this year.'' A
brisk, gusty, shifting wind made what had been a relatively easy course much tougher
Friday. ``The
golf course got it's licks in today,'' said Tom Kite, who won the tournament in
2000 and was two shots back at 139. ``Guessing
on club selection was very problematic at best. It was a very difficult day except
for a couple of guys who were able to pull rabbits out of the hat.'' Eastwood
had the day's best round at 6-under 66. He said the wind was not as big a problem
for him because he likes to punch the ball to the green and let it roll. ``It's
one of my favorite shots,'' said Eastwood, who hasn't won on the senior tour since
1997. ``Even if there is no wind, sometimes I kind of get in between clubs and
love to hit a lot of little punch shots.'' Eastwood
reeled off birdies on five of the last six holes, culminating with a 9-foot downhill
putt on the 18th. ``It's
a great feeling,'' he said. ``You hate to have the round quit because you're kind
of on a roll.'' Thorpe
started the day in a group of four who were one shot back of the leader at 67.
He shot a 70 on Friday on the 7,228-yard Prospector course at Superstition Mountain
Golf & Country Club. The tournament moved to the 3-year-old course from Desert
Mountain in Scottsdale this year. Seventy
was a good score, considering the conditions, Thorpe said. ``I
think today's round went as good as yesterday,'' he said. ``With the wind condition,
the golf course played very hard. Even when we did put the ball on the fairway,
we had a hard time getting it close to the pin.'' First-round
leader Allen Doyle, who began the day at 66, played the back nine first and had
birdies on Nos. 10 and 14 to go to 8 under. But he had four bogeys the rest of
the way to finish at 74 for the day and 140 for the tournament, three shots off
the lead. Jack
Nicklaus, in his first tournament other than this year's Senior Skins Game since
last July, shot a 71 and was even at 144. He sat out this year's Masters because
of an ailing back and credits an electronic stimulus device that he used over
the weekend with allowing him to play. ``As
of last Saturday night, I couldn't swing a golf club,'' Nicklaus said. ``I thought
if I broke 75 in one round I would be doing very well. I've broken 75 twice so
far. As a matter of fact, I've even broken par. I guess I've hit 13 or 14 greens
both rounds. That's pretty good. I'm very pleased, just tickled to death to be
playing golf again.'' In
his first tournament in two years, Tom Weiskopf was at 3-under 141 after a 70.
He had a spectacular eagle on the par-5, 589-yard 13th hole, holing a putt from
about 100 feet. ``It's
the longest putt that I can ever remember making in my career,'' he said. ``I
was just trying to get it within 5 feet of the hole. And I made a 50-footer on
No. 8.'' Gilder,
with a 69 and 68 the only golfer to break 70 in both rounds, also had his putter
in top form. He made a 25-footer for birdie on No. 12 and an 18-footer on No.
13. ``I know
these greens didn't get as fast as I think we all thought they were going to get,''
Gilder said. ``I think some guys are a little disappointed. Most people aren't.''
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