Woods Off And Running At Bay Hill

Golf

The last group sloshed up the 18th fairway in near darkness Friday evening, finally ending the first round of the Bay Hill Invitational that was delayed four times by rain over two days in Orlando, Fla.

Tiger Woods was long gone by then.

He had returned to Bay Hill Club first thing in the morning to finish his round, promptly made four birdies on the last seven holes for an 8-under-par 64, then headed home for a nap.

At this rate, the field may never see him.

Woods, who has played his way into contention on the weekend in all four of his tournaments this year, got off to his best start in 10 months for a one-stroke lead over Robert Damron.

“I’ve been hitting the ball well all year and been missing a lot of putts,” Woods said. “I fixed my putting, and I feel very comfortable over the ball now.”

Damron, one of only eight players to finish his round on Thursday, didn’t play a shot on Friday. Only 12 groups managed to start the second round. Tournament officials won’t decide what to do until after the round is complete today, although a 36-hole final day is possible.

“I’d like to see us get all 72 holes in. I definitely don’t want to come back and play this in August,” Woods said, alluding to players having to return to Pebble Beach the day after the PGA Championship to finish that tournament.

Ernie Els birdied five of the first 10 holes, but had eight pars the rest of the way for a 67, tied with Steve Stricker.

Els played the last three holes after a rain delay of 3 hours, 30 minutes, then made birdie on the first hole of his second round to get to 6-under before play was suspended by darkness.

Standard Register Ping

Liselotte Neumann took the lead of the Standard Register Ping in Phoenix despite a course record 9-under-par 64 by Julie Inkster.

Neumann, the runner-up in Tucson last week, shot a second-round 67, good for a 10-under 136 and a two-shot lead over Inkster and Rathdrum, Idaho’s Tracy Hanson

First-round leader Cindy FiggCurrier, Helen Alfredsson and Meg Mallon were three shots off the pace.

Starting from the 10th tee on the 6,435-yard layout at the Moon Valley Country Club - the longest on the LPGA tour - Inkster dropped an 18-foot birdie on No. 11 that began a run of four straight birdies.

She added a fifth birdie on the seventh hole of her round, then made her only bogey on the 10th. Inkster came back to birdie the 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes.

Her 64 eclipsed rounds of 65 shot by Amy Alcott (1988), Patty Sheehan (1993), Nancy Lopez (1994) and Barb Mucha (1997).

Hanson and Inkster each shot 65s.

Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf

Dale Douglass and Charles Coody combined for a 10-under-par 62 on to take a one-stroke lead in the opening round of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf senior event.

Coody and Douglass, teammates in the best-ball event the past nine years, had six of their 10 birdies on the front nine.

The $1.5 million purse for the 54-hole event is the highest ever for the Legends Tournament and third-highest on the Senior Tour this year.