Fred Couples takes narrow advantage

Fred Couples continued to mine a rich vein of form to move into a one-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Buick Classic on Friday.

After finishing second at last week's Memorial, Couples used his silky smooth swing to shoot a six-under-par 65 for a 10-under-par 132 total.

Lurking a stroke behind at the par-71 Westchester Country Club are world number three Vijay Singh (70) of Fiji, Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson (69) and Britain's Luke Donald (66).

Tom Byrum carded the best round of the day, a seven-under 64, and moved into sole possession of fifth place on 135.

Rounding off the top 10 on 136 are Ireland's Padraig Harrington (68), Billy Mayfair (68), Australian Scott Hend (68), South African Tjaart Van der Walt (65) and Cameron Beckman (68).

South Africa's Ernie Els, who moved into the number two spot in the world rankings after his victory at the Memorial, finished with a two-under-par 69 and is on 137, tied for 11th with Master's champion Phil Mickelson, who shot a 68.

Defending champion Jonathan Kaye recovered well from an opening-round 73 by recording a 66 and is on 139.

The cut fell at one-under 141.

The 44-year-old Couples has enjoyed a career revival over the last year.

After failing to win since the 1998 Memorial, Couples' return to form was one of the more positive stories of last season after he captured the Houston Open and finished 34th on the PGA Tour money list.

In 2004, Couples had played well in spurts, but chronic back problems have always been an issue.

Last week, Couples put together an inspired four days that included numerous chip-ins for his best finish since his win in Houston, despite a back that was constantly painful.

"I'm very tired, but this back thing, you think it's old for you guys, it's old for me," Couples said of the ailment that has been a constant companion for over 10 years.

"I very rarely get it where it's throbbing like a toothache, it's so uncomfortable.

"I told my wife ... she didn't want me to play at all and get ready for next week, but I kind of smoothed the ball around with a three-wood, and I hit it well and got through with the round, and then I had this acupuncture done.

"Today I felt less pain, but my back is just really tight."

With pins in his ears that the acupuncturist inserted to help his back, Couples stood in the par-five ninth fairway, his last of the day, two shots behind Jacobson.

But as fate would have it, Jacobson double bogeyed the 16th, the easiest hole on the course, after a poor drive and chip shot while Couples made birdie to take his first lead since the opening round of the Wachovia Championship last May where he tied for 34th.

"Today I really hit the ball well, had a lot of birdie putts, whereas last week I chipped in a lot of times and made a few bombs," Couples said.

"This week I've hit the ball better.

"I don't want to say it's not as hard a course, but it's not as tricky. A lot of shots I played safe shots.

"I heard Vijay say when you only have wedges in, you can shoot for the pins, but you've got to keep the ball in the fairway, otherwise you can't shoot at anything out of the rough."

Singh played almost exactly the same as he did in round one, hitting nine of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens.

The difference was that he took him 35 putts in the second round while in Thursday's first-round 63 he required only 27.

"I had a lot of chances from 15 feet, 20 feet all day and just kept missing the hole," Singh said.

"But I'm really happy the way I'm playing. Hitting the ball solid off the tee, hitting my iron shots nicely and rolling the putter very well but not finding the hole today."

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