The Players Championship
Sawgrass Stadium Course
Ponte Vedra Beach,
Florida
26th - 29th March 1998

Par 72 Prize Money $4 million

Second Round Report

Second Round Scores
First Round Report
First Round Scores
Norman & Elkington withdraw

Janzen and Ozaki share the lead: Monty and Clarke miss the cut

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, 27th March 1998 - No lead pack ever developed at The Players Championship. No one solved the hard and fast Stadium Course well enough to separate from the field.

And while it would be wrong to say that anyone could win going into Saturday's third round, there were enough big names in contention to make the race for the $720,000 first prize -- the largest on the PGA Tour -- very interesting.

Lee Janzen, who hasn't won on the PGA Tour in nearly three years, and Joe Ozaki, who's never won in the United States, shared the lead at 7-under-par 137 after today's second round.

But three dozen players were within a half-dozen strokes of the lead, including Tom Kite, Fred Couples, John Daly, Ernie Els, Tom Lehman and Nick Price -- all major championship winners.

"I think everybody is starting from scratch," Els said. "I think anybody who can get to double figures (under par) can win this golf tournament. And if the wind blows, I don't think you even need to get to double figures to win."

Tiger Woods, who sprayed his driver, was erratic with the putter and hit the water on the island-green 17th hole, shot a 73 and was at 145, eight strokes back along with a group of 12 players including Lee Westwood.

"Anybody who makes the cut can win," Woods said, indicating he did not feel that being eight behind was too much to overcome.

Jose Maria Olazabal is among the following group of players on 146 after a second round of 74.

Kite had the best round of the day with a 66 and was one-stroke back at 138. First-round leader Glen Day, Jerry Kelly and the amazing sometimes-player Bruce Lietzke were at 139.

Colin Montgomerie, with a 36-hole total of 148, and Darren Clarke on 9-over par 153 were among those who missed the cut. Sandy Lyle also failed to qualify for the final two round on 149 as so too did Langer on 151

Janzen, the 1995 winner, shot a 67 on Friday at the Stadium Course. Playing the back nine first, he ran off three consecutive birdies beginning on No. 15 then made nine straight pars before making a birdie on the final hole to complete a bogey-free round.

Ozaki has won 28 times in Japan but his best finish during a decade of trying in America is second-place last year at the Buick Open. His 68 in the second round came on six birdies and two bogeys.

"The confidence is probably the biggest factor," said Janzen, who had seven tour wins, including the 1993 U.S. Open, before his 31st birthday but has not won since the 1995 Sprint International. He also won The Players Championship and the Kemper Open that year.

"You have to have the confidence to win," he said. "But if you can win one, chances are you might win another one sometime not too far off that."

When Janzen won here in 1995, the course was playing hard and fast, as it is now, and it took only a 5-under par score to win.

"Lee Janzen must be smiling," Els said. "The last time it was like this he won."

Ozaki, the younger brother of Jumbo Ozaki, attributed his solid play to steady putting and better iron play since changing from graphite to steel shafts.

The only tournament won by a Japanese player on the PGA Tour was the 1983 Hawaiian Open by Isao Aoki.

Asked what the reaction would be at home if he won, Ozaki said: "That is a big if. Let's wait and see if we win, then we will see what happens."

Lietzke, who says golf is about sixth on his priority list behind his family, several hobbies and just about everything else, has won 13 times in the last 20 years and has not played more than 13 tournaments in a season since 1992 and not more than 20 since 1988.

"I started thinking about retiring in 1982 and I just didn't do a very good job of it," Lietzke said after a 70 put him at 139, two strokes back.

"I just constantly missed being with my family," he said.

Woods, who in less that two weeks will begin defense of his Masters title, had virtually no part of his game in gear. He has failed to break par in either round here, has hit only 16 of 28 fairways and needed more than 30 putts in both rounds.

"I'm rolling the rock so well right now but it's not going in," Woods said. "I feel like I can make every putt I look at."

With no one able to get very far under par and with the constant threat of wind turning the hard and fast Stadium Course into a torture test, the chance of someone making a move from well back in the pack was good going into the weekend.