Eagles lift Love further ahead

Davis Love III tied a PGA Tour record with three eagles Friday and doubled his lead after two rounds of The International.

Love, who was in front by five points after the opening round, had 17 points in the second round for a 36-hole total of 36 under the modified Stableford scoring system used in this event.

That was good for a 10-point lead over John Rollins, whose 15-point round gave him 26. Phil Mickelson was at 22.

Asked if he has ever had consecutive rounds like these, Love said, "I don't think so. These are two pretty incredible back-to-back rounds. Everything is going just right."

He had three eagles -- each worth 5 points -- in his first 10 holes, and threatened to run away with the Tournament at Castle Pines Golf Club.

During his morning round, Love increased his lead to as many as 25 points, and when he finished his round he had a 17-point cushion.

"Davis is doing something unbelievable," said Sergio Garcia, who had 10 points. "We're pretty much playing for second at the moment."

But that was before Rollins began chipping away at the lead.

"It looked like Davis was going to have 40-some points, and we figured it was his Tournament already," Rollins said. "But I saw he was only at 36 and I started to make some birdies and got over the 20 mark. At the end of the day, now I feel like I have a chance.

"In this format, 10 points is nothing. You make two eagles and you're tied."

Vijay Singh and journeyman Kent Jones each had 19 points. Charles Howell III and Bob Tway each had 18 and Retief Goosen had 17.

The scoring system gives players 8 points for a double eagle, 5 points for an eagle, 2 points for birdie, zero for par, minus-1 for bogey and minus-3 for double bogey or worse. Rich Beem won last year with a four-round total of 44 points, including 19 on Sunday.

Beem failed to make the cut this year, however, finishing at minus-5.

Three eagles in a round ties the PGA Tour record, accomplished 12 times previously -- most recently in 2001 by Mathew Goggin in the Las Vegas Invitational. Love was one of the previous record-holders, doing it in the Hawaiian Open in 1994.

It's the first time a player has posted three eagles in a round of this 18-year-old Tournament. Love's point total was also a 36-hole record for the event.

"Yesterday, I was talking about making 10 birdies and no eagles," Love said, "and today I got all the eagles. On our first nine, Greg (Norman) was laughing at me, how many putts I was making. Then I started hitting them close and didn't have to putt."

Starting at No. 10, Love birdied the 10th and 12th holes with 20- and 15-foot putts. He then reached the par-5, 623-yard 14th in two and made a 30-foot putt for eagle.

After missing the green at No. 16 and taking bogey, he eagled the par-5 17th, hitting a 4-iron to 6 inches.

He added another eagle at the 644-yard first hole, firing a 3-iron to 8 feet. A 6-foot birdie putt followed at No. 2.

At that point he had 39 points, and his next closest pursuers had 14.

Love finally faltered at the par-5 eighth, where he took a double bogey and lost 3 points. He pulled his drive into bushes, took a drop that remained under some limbs, and couldn't advance his next shot very far.

"I wanted to get in the 40s," Love said. "It was just unfortunate the way I finished."

Rollins, who started on No. 10, had eight birdies and a bogey, including a string of five birdies in six holes on his front nine.

"I made a big, swinging putt of 25 feet or so on the 11th hole that I wasn't expecting to make, and that got some momentum going," Rollins said.

Mickelson's round included two eagles, one on the 439-yard, par-4 13th when he holed a wedge.

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