Lewis fires 63 for 1-shot edge
J.L. Lewis is having somewhat of a down year after the best season of his career on the PGA Tour. He’s not happy about it, but a few of the guys just behind him in the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas wouldn’t mind being in his position at all.
Lewis shot a 9-under-par 63 Friday to take the lead at 14 under midway through the tournament.
On another windless day in the desert, Lewis took a one-shot lead over Chez Reavie, Olin Browne and Alex Cejka with a round that included an eagle, six birdies and no bogeys on a friendly Bear’s Best course.
“I didn’t do anything stupid so that’s really good for me this year,” Lewis said.
The 44-year-old Lewis, who won last year and finished in the top 30 to make the Tour Championship, is 97th on the money list despite having better stats than he did the year before.
Eagle helps Howell take edge
England’s David Howell highlighted his round with an eagle to take a one-stroke lead over compatriot and Ryder Cup teammate Luke Donald after two rounds of the Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews, Scotland.
Howell and Donald each shot 7-under 65 on the Old Course. Howell’s second successive 65 was capped by an eagle-2 on a 105-yard sand wedge into the 18th hole, his ninth hole of the round. Donald was a stroke behind at 13-under 131.
Vijay Singh, ranked No. 1 in the world, carded a 70 on the Old Course and shared 21st place. Ernie Els, who just went past Tiger Woods into second place on the world rankings, shot a second successive 68 for a share of 11th.
Woods confirms marriage
Tiger Woods finally confirmed what everybody’s known for the last three days: He married Swedish nanny Elin Nordegren in Barbados.
“There certainly has been a lot of speculation about my personal life, which is why Elin and I wanted to confirm that we got married on Tuesday,” Woods said on his Web site.
Newmann, er, Neumann leads
Liselotte Neumann only had to glance at her caddie’s back — and her name misspelled as “Newmann” on the vest — to realize how long it had been since she held a lead on the LPGA Tour.
The 38-year-old Swede had 22 putts on the way to her second straight 68 and a share of the lead with Donna Andrews and Becky Morgan at 8 under halfway through the LPGA Asahi Ryokuken International Championship at North Augusta, S.C.
It was the first time Neumann has topped the leaderboard since the third round of the 2002 Nabisco Championships, where she wound up second to Annika Sorenstam.
Wendy Ward of Edwall shot 73 to make the cut at 144. Tracy Hanson of Rathdrum, Idaho, missed the cut with a 147.
Levi, Hall share lead at Spring
Wayne Levi matched his best round on the Champions Tour and Walter Hall had his lowest score of the year, shooting 8-under 64s to share the first-round lead in the Administaff Small Business Classic at Spring, Texas.