No place like home

The local fans made Tom Watson feel every bit like the hometown favorite.

Delighting the biggest gallery on the course, the popular Kansas City native shot a 4-under-par 66 Friday on the short-but-unforgiving Prairie Dunes layout in Hutchinson, Kan., and seized a 1-stroke lead after two rounds of the U.S. Senior Open.

Watson, who makes his home about four hours northeast of the course, had 11 one-putt greens. He recorded two bogeys and six birdies to go to 4-under 136.

Bunched one stroke behind him were Morris Hatalsky, Bob Gilder, Mark James and defending champion Allen Doyle.

“This certainly is a homer crowd right here,” said Watson, a crowd pleaser whenever he competes in the area. “It’s been great. I saw quite a few people here I hadn’t seen for a while. They all came to Prairie Dunes to see me play. It’s fun to play in front of your home crowd.”

Hatalsky shot a 67 while Gilder birdied the last two holes for a 66 that tied Watson and Peter Jacobsen for the day’s best round.

First-round co-leaders Jay Haas and Dave Barr had terrible days after shooting 67 on Thursday.

Haas, the Champion Tour’s top money winner, four-putted No. 14 for a double-bogey on the short par-4 and wound up with a 75 – leaving him six strokes off the lead.

Barr, whose 67 on Thursday was his first sub-par round in a U.S. Senior Open, kept finding the high rough that flanks every hole and creeps in close to most greens. That sent his score soaring to 76.

Watson recovered with birdies immediately after recording bogeys on No. 3 and No. 8. On the ninth hole, a 452-yard, par-4 that was the toughest on the course Thursday, Watson hit a 7-iron low into a stiff wind that came to rest 4 feet from the cup.

“It was an adventurous round,” he said. “I had the Watson-of-old kind of feel today. Hit it sideways a little bit here and there and hit some really good shots and hit some bad shots and let the putter do the work.”

PGA

Tiger Woods rebounded from a rough opening round at the Western Open in Lemont, Ill., but Phil Mickelson stumbled badly. And Stewart Cink jumped into contention with one of the best rounds ever at the tournament.

Woods shot a 4-under 67 during the second round, a day after struggling for a 1 over. Still, he was seven shots behind leader Daniel Chopra, who carded a 5-under 66 to hold a two-stroke lead over Vijay Singh at Cog Hill.

Chopra, who began the day in a four-way tie for the lead, is at 10 under. Singh shot 67 to stand at 8 under. Mickelson, who went into the second round one stroke back, shot a 3-over 74 and was 1 under for the tournament.

But it was Cink who impressed after a 6-under 29 on the front nine tied the tournament’s nine-hole record. His 64 for the round was one off the mark for 18 holes. That put him at 7-under 135 and in a tie for third with Trevor Immelman and Joe Ogilvie.

“I can’t remember playing nine holes any better than that,” Cink said. “I don’t think I missed a shot, and I didn’t miss many putts, either.”

LPGA

Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam moved another step closer to a final-round showdown in the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship in Gladstone, N.J.

With her mother shouting “Good shot, Michelle!” after each booming drive, the 16-year-old Wie beat friend Christina Kim 3 and 2 in the second round. Top-seeded Sorenstam beat Heather Young, also 3 and 2.

Wie advanced to a third-round match against LPGA Championship winner Se Ri Pak, while Sorenstam will play former Duke star Brittany Lang. Pak beat Lorie Kane 1-up and Lang eliminated Seon-Hwa Lee 3 and 2 on the hilly Hamilton Farm course.

“I feel like I’m playing very solidly,” Wie said. “Obviously, tomorrow is a whole other day and you never know what might happen when you wake up.”

Sorenstam won the first two holes against Young, but dropped Nos. 4-5 and made the turn all square. The Swedish star then won Nos. 10, 12 and 13 and halved the next three holes with pars to end the match.

“It was a good match,” Sorenstam said. “I’m quite happy with the way I played.”