Golf: Adam Scott improves short game, remains in the mix at Innisbrook

The Associated Press

First Published Mar 15 2013 05:22 pm • Last Updated Mar 16 2013 12:36 am

Palm Harbor, Fla. • Adam Scott had a breakthrough with his short game this winter, and it’s so good now that he hardly even has to use it.

Scott had a putt for birdie on 16 holes in a second round that was without a bogey and without much stress. He wound up with a 5-under 66 that left him one shot behind 31-year-old rookie Shawn Stefani.

Stefani had to scramble more that he would have preferred, though he converted all the putts he felt he was supposed to make in his round of 70.

Temperatures finally began to warm, and without much wind throughout the day, the tournament was wide open. Stefani was at 7-under 135, one shot ahead of Scott and past champion K.J. Choi, who had a 67.

Twenty players were within five shots of the lead at the halfway point, a group that included everyone from Sergio Garcia and Matt Kuchar, to 19-year-old Jordan Spieth and Erik Compton, the two-time heart transplant recipient whose 65 was the low round of the day.

It was the highest score to lead at Innisbrook in five years.

John Daly registered his 15th score of 10 or higher on a hole in his PGA Tour career when he twice tried to get out of the trees, took two penalty drops and made what he called a "beautiful chip" to get up-and-down from 30 yards on the par-4 third hole. He made a 10 and had an 81.

LPGA Founders Cup

Jee Young Lee birdied three of the last four holes to take a one-stroke lead over Ai Miyazato on another hot day at the LPGA Founders Cup atPhoenix.

Lee, the 27-year-old South Korean player who won the LPGA Tour’s 2005 South Korean event before becoming a tour member, had a bogey-free 8-under 64 to reach 15-under 129. She broke the tournament 36-hole record of 12 under set by Angela Stanford in 2011 in the inaugural event.

Miyazato bogeyed her final hole for a 67 a day after shooting a tournament-record 63. The Japanese star is playing her first event since sustaining a whiplash injury three weeks ago in a five-vehicle crash in Thailand.

Lee and Miyazato played in the morning wave before the temperature climbed into the low 90s on Desert Ridge’s cactus-lined Wildfire layout.

Third-ranked Stacy Lewis, coming off a victory two weeks ago in Singapore, was four strokes back in third after a 65. Lewis has a chance to take the top spot in the world from Yani Tseng with a victory.

Tseng, the defending champion, was 2 under after a 72. She entered the week with a 22-event, 50-week winless streak, while Lewis has won five times in her last 22 tournaments.

Michelle Wie missed the cut with rounds of 74 and 72.

Toshiba Classic

David Frost shot an 8-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead over Fred Couples after the first round of the Champions Tour’s Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach, Calif..

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