Lehman Leads At Tulsa; Woods’ Father Hospitalized

The wind absent from Royal Lytham in July whipped across Southern Hills Country Club on Friday and Tom Lehman handled it like a true British Open champion, shooting a 67 to take the midway lead in the PGA’s Tour Championship at Tulsa, Okla.

Lehman, who started the back nine with four consecutive birdies, was 7 under par at 133 after 36 holes, four strokes in front of Vijay Singh and five better than Steve Stricker.

“If you can get into a rhythm on a windy day, you can still shoot a good score,” Lehman said. “But it’s just so hard to get that feel for scoring. And if you don’t get it, you struggle all day.”

Lehman obviously found that rhythm, shooting the lowest round of the day.

It was a different story for Tiger Woods. The 20-year-old sensation was clearly distracted by the hospitalization of his father overnight and, playing on short sleep, shot an 8-over-par 78, the worst of his 29 rounds since turning pro two months ago.

“I didn’t want to be here today,” Woods said, “because there are more important things in life than golf, and I love my dad to death and I wouldn’t want to see anything happen to him. I just want to go see him.”

Earl Woods, 64, was hospitalized with chest pains possibly related to bronchitis and underwent tests, but his condition was described as not life-threatening.

Hale Irwin, in pursuit of the Senior PGA Tour money title, shot an 8-under-par 63 for a one-stroke lead over defending champion Bob Charles in the Kaanapali Classic at Kaanapali, Hawaii.