Saturday, August 16, 2003

Surprise leader Micheel 2 ahead of Weir, Andrade

Mickelson falls 4 strokes behind; Woods trails by 9

The Associated Press

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Move over, Ben Curtis. Indiana University product Shaun Micheel, the latest surprise in a major, made four birdies in his final five holes Friday in the PGA Championship to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend at Oak Hill.

He still has two rounds left on the toughest PGA Championship course in 23 years. And he still has plenty of players within range - but none named Tiger Woods.

"It's obviously way too early," Micheel said after a 2-under 68, matching the best score of the second round. "But if I continue to hit the ball as well as I did off the tee, I don't see any reason why I can't be around."

Unlike Curtis, a rookie from Ohio who won the British Open in his first crack at a major, Micheel has played on the PGA Tour the last four years and has two majors under his belt, missing the cut both times.

Still, his name atop the leaderboard was the only thing that made the PGA Championship feel like the Grand Slam event known for producing first-time major winners.

For everyone else, it seemed like the U.S. Open.

Masters champion Mike Weir was leading by two strokes until he made bogey on the final two holes for a 71. Joining him at 1-under 139 was Billy Andrade, who overcame four bogeys in a five-hole stretch and shot 72.

No one else was under par at Oak Hill, which lived up to its reputation as one of the toughest tests in the U.S. majors.

"This will be a survival test to the end," Fred Funk said.

Micheel was at 3-under 137, the highest 36-hole lead in relation to par in the PGA Championship since it last paid a visit to Oak Hill in 1980.

The cut was at 8 over, also the highest for a PGA since it was 9 over that same year.

None of that seemed to faze Micheel, who holed a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 8 and finished off his memorable day with a 7-iron into 8 feet on his final hole.

"I hit some nice shots and made some nice putts coming in," he said.

Woods could hardly say the same. Unable to control his short irons, Woods' wedge into the 482-yard closing hole went long into the gnarly rough, and he looked away in disbelief. No sooner was his chip in the air than Woods flung his club at the bag.

He bogeyed the 16th and 18th, shot 2-over 72 and was nine strokes behind. For the second straight day, Woods refused to speak with reporters.

Phil Mickelson had two double bogeys in a round of 75, dropping him four shots out of the lead. Still, he was well within range of a major that has eluded him the last 10 years.

"That's kind of a 'glass half-empty, glass half-full' question, and I'm going to go with half-full," Mickelson said. "I'm a couple of shots off the lead (actually four) heading into the weekend, and I feel like I'm playing pretty well."

Twelve of the last 15 players to win the PGA Championship had never won a major, and any number of players fit that mold going into the weekend.

Rod Pampling of Australia, who shared the first-round lead with Mickelson, had two double bogeys on his first five holes. Unlike the 1999 British Open, when he went from a first-round lead to missing the cut, the former greenskeeper recovered.

He took two shots to get out of a fairway bunker on the 18th, then holed out from 144 yards for par to shoot 74 and reach even-par 140.

Along with Mickelson, the group at 1-over 141 included three-time major winner Ernie Els, despite a double bogey by the Big Easy on his final hole.

"I really wanted to get to red numbers by the end of the day, and I almost did that," Els said after a 69. "I have two rounds to go, and I'm here for the weekend. I have a chance."

He and everyone else.

Five others were at 141, none of them major winners.

Friday's scores

PGA Championship

At Oak Hill Country Club; Rochester, N.Y. Purse: $6 million; Yardage: 7,134; Par: 70

Shaun Micheel69-68-137
Billy Andrade67-72-139
Mike Weir68-71-139
Rod Pampling66-74-140
Ernie Els71-70-141
Jose Coceres73-68-141
Chad Campbell69-72-141
Tom Pernice70-71-141
Adam Scott72-69-141
Tim Herron69-72-141
Phil Mickelson66-75-141
Timothy Clark72-70-142
Fred Funk69-73-142
Lee Janzen68-74-142
Vijay Singh69-73-142
Geoff Ogilvy71-71-142
Charles Howell III70-72-142
Frank Lickliter II71-72-143
Alex Cejka74-69-143
Phil Tataurangi72-71-143
Loren Roberts70-73-143
Toshimitsu Izawa71-72-143
Robert Gamez70-73-143
Kevin Sutherland69-74-143
Jay Haas70-74-144
Len Mattiace74-70-144
Mark Calcavecchia73-71-144
Trevor Immelman74-70-144
Todd Hamilton70-74-144
Scott McCarron74-70-144
Briny Baird73-71-144
Jesper Parnevik73-72-145
Chris DiMarco74-71-145
Michael Campbell74-71-145
Fred Couples74-71-145
Duffy Waldorf70-75-145
Woody Austin72-73-145
Luke Donald73-72-145
Aaron Baddeley69-77-146
J.L. Lewis71-75-146
Rocco Mediate72-74-146
Niclas Fasth76-70-146
Hal Sutton75-71-146
Ben Crane73-73-146
Carlos Franco73-73-146
Rory Sabbatini71-75-146
Jim Furyk72-74-146
Tiger Woods74-72-146
Jonathan Kaye74-73-147
Scott Hoch75-72-147
Ian Poulter72-75-147
Shigeki Maruyama75-72-147
Bob Estes71-76-147
Joe Durant71-76-147
Angel Cabrera71-76-147
Robert Allenby70-77-147
Stuart Appleby74-73-147
Kenny Perry75-72-147
Bernhard Langer75-72-147
David Toms75-72-147
Peter Lonard74-74-148
Eduardo Romero77-71-148
Padraig Harrington72-76-148
Gary Evans74-74-148
Billy Mayfair76-72-148
Bob Burns72-76-148
Paul Casey79-69-148
Jose Maria Olazabal74-74-148
Brian Gay74-74-148
K.J. Choi74-74-148
FAILED TO QUALIFY

Steve Flesch79-70-149
Dan Forsman75-74-149
Darren Clarke79-70-149
Scott Verplank77-72-149
Greg Norman79-70-149
Sergio Garcia72-77-149
Stephen Leaney73-76-149
Paul McGinley73-76-149
Davis Love III74-75-149
Thomas Bjorn78-71-149
Paul Azinger73-76-149
Gene Sauers72-77-149
Greg Owen77-73-150
Bradley Dredge75-75-150
Tom Lehman75-75-150
Steve Lowery75-75-150
Tom Watson75-75-150
Peter Jacobsen73-77-150
Mathias Gronberg76-74-150
Fredrik Jacobson76-74-150
Carl Pettersson74-76-150
Shingo Katayama75-75-150
Don Berry74-76-150
Hank Kuehne70-81-151
Retief Goosen77-74-151
Brian Davis73-78-151
Kevin Burton78-73-151
Mark Brooks77-74-151
Rob Labritz76-75-151
Ignacio Garrido75-76-151
Lee Westwood73-78-151
Alastair Forsyth73-78-151
Chris Riley73-78-151
Bob Tway78-73-151
John Daly76-75-151
John Rollins78-73-151
Ben Curtis75-76-151
Jeff Maggert79-73-152
Scott A. Porter80-72-152
JC Anderson76-76-152
Phillip Price77-75-152
Stewart Cink79-73-152
Chip Sullivan74-78-152
Jerry Kelly78-75-153
Justin Leonard79-75-154
Ken Schall80-74-154
Tim Thelen75-79-154
Jeff Sluman75-79-154
Robert Karlsson75-79-154
Jeffrey Lankford78-76-154
Dean Wilson78-77-155
Mark O'Meara73-82-155
Dave Tentis79-76-155
Anders Hansen78-77-155
Justin Rose77-78-155
Stephen Ames82-74-156
Colin Montgomerie82-74-156
Tim Petrovic82-75-157
Dino Lucchesi79-78-157
Craig Parry79-78-157
Rich Beem82-75-157
Steve Schneiter77-80-157
Mike Schuchart77-81-158
Andre Stolz75-83-158
Michael Combs79-79-158
Cary Sciorra76-82-158
Bob Sowards81-78-159
Jonathan Byrd80-79-159
Skip Kendall80-79-159
Rick Schuller79-80-159
Ron A. Philo Jr82-78-160
Ricardo Gonzalez77-83-160
Sean Farren79-81-160
Toru Taniguchi82-79-161
Pierre Fulke81-80-161
John Guyton80-81-161
Brad Faxon82-79-161