[ MERCEDES CHAMPIONSHIPS ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mike Weir made a birdie putt on the third green of the Plantation Course as Tiger Woods looked on yesterday during the second round of the Mercedes Championships in Kapalua, Maui. Weir and Woods are tied at 5-under 141. In the background is the island of Molokai.
Singh flies
past ApplebyA birdie binge on the back nine
allows Singh to claim the lead
going into the third round
KAPALUA, Maui >> Stuart Appleby was walking the walk of Ernie Els as he made the turn for home during yesterday's second round of the $5.3 million Mercedes Championships.
The Aussie held a four-shot lead on the field thanks to four consecutive birdies to finish the front nine in 32. It went well with Thursday's back nine of 31 and had all the makings of rivaling Els' winning score of 31 under a year ago.
Mercedes Championships
At Kapalua, Maui
Yardage: 7,263; Par 73
Second-round leaders
Vijay Singh 68-64 -- 132 -14 Stuart Appleby 66-67 -- 133 -13 Darren Clarke 67-69 -- 136 -10 Kirk Triplett 68-69 -- 137 -9 Scott Hoch 68-71 -- 139 -7 Davis Love III 69-71 -- 140 -6 Retief Goosen 70-70 -- 140 -6
But somewhere over the final nine, Appleby left his Superman cape in the bag long enough to allow Vijay Singh to do a fly-by and take a one-shot lead entering today's third 18 holes. Singh's 9-under 64 was two shots shy of K.J. Choi's record 62 of a year ago, but good enough to lead the field after 36 holes at 14-under 132.
If Appleby was bothered by Singh's birdie binge over the final nine, the 32-year-old didn't show it. He claimed not to look at the leaderboard on the backside of the windswept Plantation Course. Too bad. He might have noticed Singh erasing a five-shot deficit with eight birdies on the final nine, including seven in a row to close out the round.
"I'm not too concerned," Appleby said. "I shot a good round (67--133). I played pretty good golf for nine-tenths of the day. Doesn't really matter, anyway. The checks aren't handed out in the second round. The crystal is not in your cabinet until the end of the day, so I'm not really worried about it."
It's also too soon to say it's just a two-horse race. Darren Clarke finished with birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to finish at 10 under (69--136). Considering he started the day with a double bogey at the difficult first, Clarke is happy he's still in the hunt.
Kirk Triplett will be Clarke's playing partner today. He's alone in fourth at 9-under 137. Scott Hoch is alone in fifth at 139. Had he not taken a quadruple-bogey 7 at the par-3 eighth, he'd be right on the shoulder of Singh and Appleby. As it stands, there's still a lot of golf to be played with anyone in this winners-only event capable of posting low numbers over the final 36 holes.
"Again, if I can shoot 9 under, they're capable of doing it similar or even better (today)," Singh said. "I just got to stick to my game and feel what I'm doing, don't worry about what other guys are doing, see if I can extend my lead even further."
Chief rival Tiger Woods doesn't appear to be in the picture. He had an up-and-down round that ended with a par on the final hole. His 3-under 70 -- that included a double bogey and a bogey on the first two holes to go 1 over for the tournament -- left him at 141 and tied for eighth, some nine shots off the pace.
"The way this golf course is, the greens not being as smooth as they normally are, it's hard to go low, it really is," Woods said. "If you're coming from behind, if you get some putts to go in the hole, which is not easy to do, you can try to make up some ground. But, again, it's very difficult to make up ground because the greens just aren't smooth."
Woods' swing wasn't particularly smooth either. He had a horrible drive on the first hole that led to his second consecutive double bogey on the tough par-4. He then hit another bad shot at No. 18 to keep him from posting a low number on his favorite hole.
"That was pretty, wasn't it?" Woods said. "Start off with a duck on one, end up with a duck on 18."
The top six finishers, including Davis Love III, birdied the closing hole. For Singh, he rolled his in from 2 feet after chipping from near the stands. It was good enough for a 29 on the backside, the best so far in the tournament.
"I was a great putter on the back nine today," Singh said. "That's the way I like to putt all the time. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Right now, I'm stroking it well. I think putting with a conventional putter helped me out a little bit, made me feel the strokes again."
The only hole Singh parred on the back nine was the 11th. The PGA Tour record for consecutive birdies is eight and is held by five golfers, most recently accomplished by Jerry Kelly at the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational. After Singh fell behind Appleby by as many as five, his birdie streak from the 12th on in allowed him to pass Appleby, who was two groups behind Singh's, at the 16th. They were tied for a while, but Singh took the lead for good with birdies on the final two holes.
"Vijay got on a good streak," Appleby said. "I know what that's like. I was on that yesterday (with six straight birdies). I had another one today. So, it doesn't surprise me. You can hit a lot of greens out here. You just get on a putting roll. He was on that. That's how it works. He's the type of player who can do that."
Mercedes Championships
At Kapalua, Maui
Purse: $5.3 million
Second round, par-73
Vijay Singh 68-64 -- 132 Stuart Appleby 66-67 -- 133 Darren Clarke 67-69 -- 136 Kirk Triplett 68-69 -- 137 Scott Hoch 68-71 -- 139 Davis Love III 69-71 -- 140 Retief Goosen 70-70 -- 140 Tiger Woods 71-70 -- 141 Mike Weir 71-70 -- 141 Peter Jacobsen 70-71 -- 141 Jim Furyk 70-71 -- 141 J.L. Lewis 70-71 -- 141 Shaun Micheel 70-71 -- 141 Fred Couples 69-72 -- 141 Shigeki Maruyama 69-72 -- 141 John Huston 69-72 -- 141 Justin Leonard 68-73 -- 141 Ernie Els 73-70 -- 143 Adam Scott 69-74 -- 143 Jonathan Kaye 74-70 -- 144 Kenny Perry 73-71 -- 144 Tommy Armour III 73-71 -- 144 Steve Flesch 73-72 -- 145 Ben Crane 71-74 -- 145 Rory Sabbatini 73-74 -- 147 Chad Campbell 71-76 -- 147 Frank Lickliter II 73-76 -- 149 Bob Tway 76-74 -- 150 Craig Stadler 73-78 -- 151 Ben Curtis 73-80 -- 153
