Janzen, Ozaki share lead at Players Championship
By RON SIRAK / AP Golf Writer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- No lead pack ever developed
at The Players Championship. No one solved the hard and fast Stadium
Course well enough to separate from the field.
And while it would be wrong to say that anyone could win going
into Saturday's third round, there were enough big names in contention
to make the race for the $720,000 first prize -- the largest on
the PGA Tour -- very interesting.
Lee Janzen, who hasn't won on the PGA Tour in nearly three
years, and Joe Ozaki, who's never won in the United States, shared
the lead at 7-under-par 137 after Friday's second round.
But three dozen players were within a half-dozen strokes of
the lead, including Tom Kite, Fred Couples, John Daly, Ernie Els,
Tom Lehman and Nick Price -- all major championship winners.
"I think everybody is starting from scratch," Els
said "I think anybody who can get to double figures (under
par) can win this golf tournament. And if the wind blows, I don't
think you even need to get to double figures to win."
Tiger Woods, who sprayed his driver, was erratic with the putter
and hit the water on the island-green 17th hole, shot a 73 and
was at 145, eight strokes back.
"Anybody who makes the cut can win," Woods said,
indicating he did not feel that being eight behind was too much
to overcome.
Kite had the best round of the day with a 66 and was one-stroke
back at 138. First-round leader Glen Day, Jerry Kelly and the
amazing sometimes-player Bruce Lietzke were at 139.
Colin Montgomerie, with a 36-hole total of 148, was among those
who missed the cut.
Janzen, the 1995 winner, shot a 67 on Friday at the Stadium
Course. Playing the back nine first, he ran off three consecutive
birdies beginning on No. 15 then made nine straight pars before
making a birdie on the final hole to complete a bogey-free round.
Ozaki has won 28 times in Japan but his best finish during
a decade of trying in America is second-place last year at the
Buick Open. His 68 in the second round came on six birdies and
two bogeys.
"The confidence is probably the biggest factor,"
said Janzen, who had seven tour wins before his 31st birthday
but has not won since the 1995 Sprint International. He also won
The Players Championship and the U.S. Open that year.
"You have to have the confidence to win," he said.
"But if you can win one, chances are you might win another
one sometime not too far off that."
When Janzen won here in 1995, the course was playing hard and
fast, as it is now, and it took only a five under par score to
win.
"Lee Janzen must be smiling," Els said. "The
last time it was like this he won."
Ozaki, the younger brother of Jumbo Ozaki, attributed his solid
play to steady putting and better iron play since changing from
graphite to steel shafts.
The only tournament won by a Japanese player on the PGA Tour
was the 1983 Hawaiian Open by Isao Aoki.
Asked what the reaction would be at home if he won, Ozaki said:
"That is a big if. Let's wait and see if we win, then we
will see what happens."
Lietzke, who says golf is about sixth on his priority list
behind his family, several hobbies and just about everything else,
has won 13 times in the last 20 years and has not played more
than 13 tournaments in a season since 1992 and not more than 20
since 1988.
"I started thinking about retiring in 1982 and I just
didn't do a very good job of it," Lietzke said after a 70
put him at 139, two strokes back.
"I just constantly missed being with my family,"
he said.
Woods, who in less that two weeks will begin defense of his
Masters title, had virtually no part of his game in gear. He has
failed to break par in either round here, has hit only 16 of 28
fairways and needed more than 30 putts in both rounds.
"I'm rolling the rock so well right now but it's not going
in," Woods said. "I feel like I can make every putt
I look at."
With no one able to get very far under par and with the constant
threat of wind turning the hard and fast Stadium Course into a
torture test, the chance of someone making a move from well back
in the pack was good going into the weekend.
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