Garcia patient with wind gusts
Rain submerges LPGA tournament
Sergio Garcia paused over a 9-iron that never reached the green. Vijay Singh felt the wind change in the middle of his swing. Tiger Woods watched a birdie chance disappear off the green and into the water.
Blustery wind that swirled from all corners fooled some of the world's best players and turned the
Garcia survived by playing bogey-free on the back nine for a 1-under-par 71 and a 7-under 137 total, giving him a two-shot lead over Singh (69), defending champion Joey Sindelar (71), and D.J. Trahan (67).
The cut was at 4 over, and there are 15 players within five shots of the lead. That included Woods, who has made 11 birdies in two days at Quail Hollow, but has sprinkled in enough bogeys to leave him with plenty of work to catch up.
Phil Mickelson, who hit into the water on the par-3 17th and finished double bogey-bogey for a 73, is seven shots behind.
LPGA -- Annika Sorenstam's winning streak is on hold again. Rain wiped out play at the Michelob Ultra Open in Williamsburg, Va., and the second round will start anew this morning. The final 36 holes will be played tomorrow.
"Some players that didn't tee off yet were going to come tomorrow and play in sunshine while half the field is playing in this muck," said Jim Haley, an LPGA rules official. "We just didn't feel like that was fair to the field." The storm could have been a huge break for Sorenstam. After shooting a 5-over 76 Thursday, she's got work to do just to make the cut, let alone keep her quest for a record sixth straight victory alive. She's nine strokes behind first-round leaders Silvia Cavalleri and Catrin Nilsmark, and several off the projected cut line.
European -- Richard Finch shot a course record 9-under 63 to take the lead after the second round of the Italian Open in Milan. The Englishman broke the old mark of 64, set by Mark Roe and Gregory Havret last year.
Finch, England's amateur champion in 2002, is at 12-under 132 and leads Bradley Dredge of Wales by one stroke. Finch had an eagle and eight birdies in the second round after returning to the green shortly after completing his first round at 3-under 69.
Nearly 80 players finished their opening rounds early yesterday after rain forced play to be suspended the previous day.
Paul Broadhurst of England was tied for third with Havret at 9 under.
Asian -- Australia's Andrew Buckle shot a 4-under 68 in the cold and rain to take a two-stroke lead through the second round of the SK Telecom Open in Seoul, South Korea. Buckle, an Asian Tour rookie, was 2 over after seven holes at Il Dong Lake Golf Club -- but he recovered to make four birdies and an eagle on the 15th and finished at 8-under 136 for the tournament.
Former Masters champion Fred Couples shot a second consecutive 70.
