| Castle
Rock, Colorado, 22nd August, 1998 -
Lightning appeared to be the only obstacle to Vijay Singh's bid for his second
straight PGA Tour victory. Singh,
who captured his first major title last Sunday in the PGA Championship, widened
his lead Friday in the weather-interrupted second round of the Sprint International.
Not even two
tee shots into water could deter Singh, who birdied seven holes and boosted his
36-hole total to 27 points under the modified Stableford scoring system used in
this event. He had a 4-point lead over Steve Flesch. For
the second straight day, lightning invaded Castle Pines Golf Club. After causing
a 2-hour, 40-minute delay on Thursday that forced 36 players to finish their rounds
early Friday, lightning and rain struck again Friday afternoon with half the field
still on the course. After
a delay of 2 hours, 25 minutes, play resumed, but 31 players were unable to finish
by nightfall. They completed their rounds early today, and the third round began
about an hour later than originally scheduled. Singh,
who began the day as the co-leader with Jim Carter at 15 points, added 12 points
to his total -- tying the 36-hole tournament record set by defending champion
Phil Mickelson last year. Brandt
Jobe finished with 22 points, and David Sutherland, who played the last two holes
of his second round today, also had 22. Jesper Parnevik was at 21, Davis Love
III at 20 and Carter at 19. Tiger
Woods, with 14 points in the opening round, struggled early in his round, surrendering
7 points when he double-bogeyed his first hole and then took four straight bogeys,
dropping to 7 points. But he rallied with five subsequent birdies to finish at
17. The International's
scoring format awards 5 points for an eagle, 2 for birdie, zero for par, minus-1
for bogey and minus-3 for double-bogey or worse. Points
accumulate over all four rounds. The field was cut to the low 70 players and ties
for today's third round and will be cut to the low 36 and ties for Sunday's final
round. The first
cut came at 8 points, with 7 failing to qualify. Among those at 7 were the tour's
leading money-winner, David Duval, and the International's inaugural winner, Ken
Green. Singh
admitted having some negative thoughts at the start of his second round. "Sooner
or later this run was going to come to an end, I thought,'' Singh said. "I
wasn't expecting to go out there and shoot another 15 to 20 points. "I
didn't play as good as yesterday but I hit a lot of good iron shots and made some
good putts. I got some momentum going and had a good run there with birdies at
18, 1 and 2. Then when I came back from the rain delay, I made a good (birdie)
putt on 5.'' Singh
drove into water on the par-5 17th hole but salvaged par. He also drove into water
on his last hole, just after the horn sounded to suspend play because of darkness,
but players were allowed to finish any hole they started. Singh scrambled to make
bogey. Flesch,
a Nike Tour graduate who ranks 37th on this year's PGA Tour money list, scored
11 points Friday for a 36-hole total of 23. The
left-handed Flesch, wielding his backup driver after breaking his regular one
in a temper tantrum midway through the opening round, bogeyed his first two holes,
then ran off seven birdies with only one more bogey. "I
couldn't think of a worse way to start the day,'' he said. But
he promptly sank birdie putts of 15 and 40 feet at Nos. 3 and 4, "and that
kind of got me turned around and relaxed me a little bit.'' Jobe,
a Colorado native who has won three times this year on the Japanese PGA tour,
was another point behind at 22. Jobe, among those who completed their first rounds
early Friday, had a steady round of five birdies and one bogey. "I
hit a lot of greens and made a couple of putts and was pretty consistent, which
is kind of a change for me,'' he said.
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