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John Huston takes lead into the weekend
John Huston could be setting himself up for another October win. Two years ago, his most recent PGA Tour victory came during that month, as did his previous one, and the one before that.
Perhaps he's ready to do it again.
``It's about time,'' Huston said.
The 44-year-old veteran continued his solid play of late, posting a second consecutive 6-under 66 on Friday to take the second-round lead in the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. Huston is at 12-under 132, one shot better than K.J. Choi (69) and two in front of Justin Rose (65) and D.J. Trahan (69).
With another perfect day for scoring at Forest Oaks, the 36-hole cut came in at 3 under.
``I like when scoring conditions are good and the weather's good,'' Huston said. ``I think you just kind of tee off and see what the course gives you, hopefully take advantage of it.''
Sergio Garcia had another 69 and was tied for 17th, with U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman another shot back after a 70. Adam Scott made it to the weekend on the number after a 68.
Huston has seven victories during his 18-year career, none since winning the 2003 Southern Farm Bureau Classic. He hasn't done much this season, prompting him to decide between slowing down a bit or grinding it out.
He chose to keep going.
``I guess I decided I wasn't ready to give up on the game yet,'' Huston said. ``So I just decided the best way to go about getting myself back into a better position would be to just start playing every week.''
He has played in 13 of the past 14 tournaments, taking off only one week since Westchester in June. The quality of his game picked up during the run -- he has earned all but $42,000 of his $522,478 during that span.
Still, Huston sits 127th on the money list, two spots away from the coveted top 125. He already used his one-time exemption for being in the top 50 all-time, so he must play his way into status for 2006.
``I decided I would rather, if I could, be in a position to pick the tournaments I wanted to play in,'' Huston said.
He's in familiar territory this week. Since joining the tour full-time in 1988, Huston has missed the Greensboro stop only four times, and he has had plenty of success here. He was runner-up in 1989, tied for third two years later, then tied for fifth in 1996.
Of course, this also was the site of one of the most embarrassing moments of his career. He was running late for his tee time 15 years ago and sped past a sheriff's deputy who was trying to stop him. Authorities later charged him with careless and reckless driving and failure to comply with a traffic-control device after they reported he nearly hit a 5-year-old boy.
All this happened after Huston already had returned home, and he never even received a ticket in the incident. The charges eventually were dropped.
``It was really no big deal then, and still isn't to me,'' Huston said. ``I think the whole problem with it is they made a really big deal of it after I left. To me, it was already done. I was at home. I don't really even remember it.''
First-round leader Charles Warren, who tied the course record with a 62 on Thursday, had a 74 after a rough stretch on the back nine. He made the turn at 3 under for the day and cruising, then bogeyed three of the first five holes coming in.
After two more bogeys at 16 and 17, Warren had a whopping 41. At least he made it to the weekend, which he hasn't done 13 of his past 15 starts.
``I feel like I can go to the range, within an hour, I can tighten my ball striking up,'' Warren said. ``I was still hitting putts. Now, I'm in a position where I can go play aggressive on the weekend. I'm looking forward to that.''
Rose used a string four consecutive birdies to start the back and added another on the 18th to complete his day. With the season winding down, he's hoping to get his first victory in the United States to go with four others around the world.
``It's nice just to be in some sort of position again,'' Rose said. ``Obviously, nobody wins the tournament on Saturday. You just go out there and play for position.''
John Huston 66-66-132 -12
K.J. Choi 64-69-133 -11
Justin Rose 69-65-134 -10
D.J. Trahan 65-69-134 -10
Tim Clark 66-69-135 -9
Shigeki Maruyama 70-65-135 -9
John Rollins 67-68-135 -9
Brian Gay 69-66-135 -9
Charles Warren 62-74-136 -8
Carl Pettersson 69-67-136 -8
Daniel Chopra 67-69-136 -8
Tim Herron 70-66-136 -8
Jason Bohn 71-65-136 -8
Chris Smith 72-65-137 -7
Brandt Jobe 72-65-137 -7
Dudley Hart 70-67-137 -7
Tom Gillis 70-68-138 -6
James Driscoll 67-71-138 -6
Sergio Garcia 69-69-138 -6
Ben Curtis 69-69-138 -6
J.J. Henry 66-72-138 -6
Tom Byrum 71-67-138 -6
Joe Durant 67-71-138 -6
Hank Kuehne 71-67-138 -6
Gavin Coles 68-70-138 -6
Wes Short Jr. 68-70-138 -6
Jonathan Kaye 70-68-138 -6
Jerry Kelly 70-68-138 -6
D.A. Points 72-66-138 -6
Darron Stiles 69-69-138 -6
Hunter Haas 70-68-138 -6
Jay Delsing 71-68-139 -5
Cameron Beckman 70-69-139 -5
Mark Wilson 72-67-139 -5
Tag Ridings 71-68-139 -5
Tom Lehman 69-70-139 -5
Tim Petrovic 70-69-139 -5
Patrick Sheehan 71-68-139 -5
Paul Azinger 69-71-140 -4
Marco Dawson 72-68-140 -4
Charles Howell III 69-71-140 -4
Jonathan Byrd 67-73-140 -4
Hidemichi Tanaka 66-74-140 -4
Duffy Waldorf 69-71-140 -4
Jeff Maggert 69-71-140 -4
Phillip Price 69-71-140 -4
Billy Mayfair 69-71-140 -4
Olin Browne 68-72-140 -4
Steve Elkington 70-70-140 -4
Heath Slocum 71-69-140 -4
J.L. Lewis 72-68-140 -4
Steve Allan 72-68-140 -4
Billy Andrade 69-72-141 -3
Matt Gogel 67-74-141 -3
Robert Gamez 72-69-141 -3
Peter Lonard 71-70-141 -3
Tommy Armour III 71-70-141 -3
Neal Lancaster 71-70-141 -3
Ryan Moore 72-69-141 -3
Michael Long 70-71-141 -3
Scott Gutschewski 67-74-141 -3
Tjaart van der Walt 73-68-141 -3
Steve Lowery 74-67-141 -3
Lucas Glover 70-71-141 -3
Robert Damron 74-67-141 -3
Brian Bateman 70-71-141 -3
Kent Jones 70-71-141 -3
Adam Scott 73-68-141 -3
Chad Campbell 69-72-141 -3
Geoff Ogilvy 68-73-141 -3
Charlie Wi 70-71-141 -3
Shaun Micheel 75-66-141 -3
Corey Pavin 72-69-141 -3
Hunter Mahan 75-66-141 -3
Thomas Levet 74-67-141 -3
Tom Pernice Jr. 72-69-141 -3
Justin Bolli 69-72-141 -3
Failed to Qualify
J.P. Hayes 71-71-142 -2
Alex Cejka 70-72-142 -2
Kevin Na 73-69-142 -2
Joey Snyder III 70-72-142 -2
Briny Baird 70-72-142 -2
Brent Geiberger 73-69-142 -2
Lee Janzen 72-70-142 -2
Kevin Sutherland 71-71-142 -2
Len Mattiace 71-71-142 -2
Joey Sindelar 71-72-143 -1
Bo Van Pelt 72-71-143 -1
Chris Anderson 71-72-143 -1
Jose Coceres 70-73-143 -1
Nick Watney 73-70-143 -1
Omar Uresti 70-74-144 E
Mark O'Meara 72-72-144 E
Todd Hamilton 68-76-144 E
Ryuji Imada 76-68-144 E
Paul Claxton 73-71-144 E
Brett Wetterich 71-73-144 E
Trevor Dodds 72-72-144 E
Loren Roberts 74-70-144 E
Stewart Cink 70-74-144 E
Frank Lickliter II 72-72-144 E
Jeff Brehaut 73-71-144 E
Michael Allen 71-73-144 E
Bob Heintz 72-72-144 E
Kevin Stadler 70-74-144 E
Kelly Mitchum 74-70-144 E
Jeff Hart 72-73-145 +1
Steve Flesch 72-73-145 +1
Jay Haas 72-73-145 +1
Jeff Sluman 72-73-145 +1
Robert Allenby 70-75-145 +1
Doug Barron 72-73-145 +1
David Hearn 71-75-146 +2
Danny Briggs 75-71-146 +2
Greg Owen 75-71-146 +2
Franklin Langham 72-75-147 +3
John Daly 75-72-147 +3
Will MacKenzie 73-74-147 +3
Skip Kendall 72-75-147 +3
Brendan Jones 71-77-148 +4
Jim Gallagher Jr. 71-77-148 +4
Matt Kuchar 73-75-148 +4
Roland Thatcher 73-75-148 +4
John Maginnes 77-74-151 +7
Jason Allred 73-78-151 +7
D.J. Brigman 76-75-151 +7
Craig Perks 76-76-152 +8
Mark Brooks 74-78-152 +8
Scott Hend 74-82-156 +12
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