Hall of Famer Beth Daniel turned the clock back 25 years when she shot a 6-under 65 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
Despite getting to 7-under 135 with her lowest round of the year, she said she wasn't ready to start getting nostalgic just yet.
"The years never melt away," the 48-year-old said with a laugh. "Unfortunately, they never melt away. Plus, it's a little bit early in the tournament to be getting sentimental anyway."
PHOTO: AP
US Women's Open champion Birdie Kim and fellow South Korean Han Hee-won shared second place, Han after a 67 and first-round co-leader Kim after an even-par 71.
Kim, who shared the lead after an opening 65, had bogeys on three of the first four holes, then birdied three of the next four before closing with 10 straight pars.
"Today my tee shots were not very good," said Kim, who won the US Women's Open two weeks ago by dramatically holing a sand shot on the 72nd hole. "It was not easy today. But after the sixth hole, I hit it pretty good."
Han, who changed putters on Tuesday, had 28 putts in her 67.
Defending champion Meg Mallon (69), Jeong Jang (69), Gloria Park (70), Dorothy Delasin (67), Marilyn Lovander (68) and Brittany Lang (68) -- making her pro debut -- were two shots back at 5 under. First-round co-leader Becky Morgan had a 74 that left her at 3 under.
Daniel has won 33 times in her career, but just once in the last decade. Her win in the 2003 Canadian Women's Open made her the oldest player to win an US LPGA Tour event.
She hasn't finished in the top eight in a tournament in 10 starts this year and is 53rd on the money list.
"The way I've played this year hasn't been a lot of fun," she said. "I was thinking out there on the last few holes that it was nice to have my heart rate going a little bit and feeling a little something because I really haven't been in contention that much this year to get my heart rate up."
Daniel's round started quietly enough. After an opening 70, she bogeyed the first hole to fall to even for the tournament before birdieing three of the next four holes. After seven consecutive pars, she birdied three holes in a row and four of five to break free from a tie with Kim.
Play was suspended due to lightning just seconds after Daniel hit her approach to about 15 feet below the hole on the par-5 18th. After a delay of almost two hours, she two-putted for par.
Daniel has cut back her schedule in recent years, while trying to maintain her competitive edge. Finding the correct balance hasn't been easy.
"I've been thinking about retirement for a while. I would call myself semiretired at this point," she said.
"I've been torn. I'm out here and sometimes I want to be home. I can honestly say when I'm home I don't want to be on tour. For any athlete, it's hard to know when to stop."
Unlike most veteran players, Daniel has retained her great touch on the greens. She had 29 putts in the first round while using a long putter, then needed just 25 in the second round. Daniel came into the tournament ranked in the top 20 on tour in putting.
She broke in with a win as a rookie at the 1979 Patty Berg Classic, then won four times in 1980, twice in 1981 and five times in 1982.
Farr, a longtime friend, presented her for induction to the Hall of Fame in 2000. She has always played well at the stop in suburban Toledo, with four top 10s, including two fourth-place finishes.
On the brink of becoming the first woman in 60 years to make a cut on the US PGA Tour, 15-year-old Michelle Wie missed out by two strokes.
Wie found trouble on two of her last four holes, and her even-par 71 left her at 1 under for the tournament. She finished tied for 88th.
Wie was trying to become the first woman since Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1945 to make a US PGA Tour cut, and she was on track to do it with room to spare after making the turn at 4 under. But she came apart in stunning fashion, dropping three strokes on Nos. 6 and 7, and then missing a last-chance birdie putt on No. 8.
J.L. Lewis, the 1999 winner, followed his opening 64 with a 65 to take the lead at 13-under 129. Shigeki Maruyama (63) and Hunter Mahan (68) were second at 11 under.
Greg Owen lashed out at the Royal & Ancient for an unwritten rule that knocked him out of the British Open, although a 5-under 66 Friday in the Scottish Open left him hoping he can still get to St. Andrews.
Owen holed an 8-iron from 153 yards at No. 2 that damaged the cup when it went in on the fly, and he closed with a sand wedge to 3 feet for birdie on the ninth to put him three shots behind leader Maarten Lafeber.
Both are among several players trying to get the lone British Open spot available to the top finisher at Loch Lomond.
Owen believes he should already be in the field at St. Andrews. He was among three players overlooked in the world ranking as alternates because they withdrew from a qualifier in the US.
The R&A deemed that to mean they had withdrawn from the Open, so when a spot became available when Billy Mayfair decided not to play, Arron Oberholser, Owen and Jeff Maggert were skipped in the ranking.
That provision is not in the entry form Owen filled out.
"It's a typical R&A decision," Owen said. "It's not written that if you pull out of the qualifier, you pull out of the Open. They said they made the decision earlier this year. Explain that to me. It's just the R&A being the R&A. They probably discussed this over a glass of port."
Bothered by a hip ailment that throbs when he sits, Dana Quigley shot a 6-under 66 on Friday to take the second-round lead at 11 under in the US Senior Players Championship, the second major on the Champions Tour.
Isao Aoki (69) and Tom McKnight (67) were two shots back, and Peter Jacobsen (66), Hale Irwin (68) and Ron Streck (70) followed at 8 under.
Quigley, playing his 264th consecutive event and 278th straight in events he has been eligible for, will end the eight-year run on Sunday if his hip doesn't improve because of doesn't want to sit through a long flight to the Senior British Open.
"I'm worried about the flight knocking me out with this hip, and maybe regressing rather than progressing," Quigley said after his 10th round in the 60s in 12 starts. "I'm kind of looking forward to the rest of the season. I'm really starting to think I can play a bit -- and that's a scary thought.
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