Scott rises to fore

Aussie fires 67 to lead Nelson

Adam Scott began the day with four birdies in a row. (LM Otero/Associated Press)

Adam Scott returned to Australia after the Masters. It was a short visit.

"I felt like I was still playing good and I shouldn't waste that at home," Scott said.

So instead of staying home for a second week, Scott was a deadline entrant into the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas, where yesterday he shot a second-round 67 to take the lead at 5-under-par 135.

That was good for a one-stroke lead over fellow Aussies Mark Hensby (67) and Mathew Goggin (69), and Scott McCarron (66), who missed all of last season recovering from right elbow surgery.

Scott began his round with four straight birdies. Though he managed only one more to go with two bogeys, that was enough to give the only world top-10 player in the Nelson sole possession of the lead.

"It would have been nice to get a couple more after my start," said Scott, 10th in the latest rankings. "But I'm pretty happy."

McCarron, who for seven months before his surgery in August 2006 played with a muscle torn away from the bone in his elbow, had a bogey-free round with a pair of birdies on each side.

Hensby had his only two bogeys in his first three holes, during the same stretch of Scott's birdie string. But Hensby made an 8-foot birdie at the 180-yard 13th hole and played bogey free the rest of the round, including a 4-under 31 on the front nine.

Trevor Immelman followed his opening 78 with a 75 and became the first Masters champion since Jose Maria Olazabal in 1994 to miss the cut in his next tournament.

LPGA - Annika Sorenstam shot a 4-under 67, drawing her within one shot of Young Kim at the midway point of the inaugural Stanford International Pro-Am in Aventura, Fla.

Kim also shot a 67, matching her first-round score for an 8-under 134 total. They'll enter the third round with a solid cushion over Paula Creamer (71) and Angela Stanford (70), both of whom are 2 under.

Only seven players were under par through two rounds, with Meena Lee (71), Momoko Ueda (72) and Kyeong Bae (71) at 1 under to round out that elite group.

The cut was 7 over, and even that wasn't enough to keep Morgan Pressel (74) around for the weekend. Pressel plays with the Stanford logo on her sleeve, and giant photos of her are plastered everywhere this week.

Champions - Tom Watson and Andy North teamed to birdie the first seven holes en route to a better-ball 13-under 59 for a three-shot lead after the first round of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf tournament at The Club at Savannah (Ga.) Harbor.

The teams of R.W. Eaks and Bob Gilder, Keith Fergus and Wayne Levi, Morris Hatalsky and Don Pooley, and John Cook and Joey Sindelar were 10 under on the island course in the Savannah River.

European/Asian - Robert-Jan Derksen and Zhang Lian-Wei both shot 3-under 69s for a share of the lead at the midway point of the Asian Open in Beijing.