Caged Tiger

Tiger Woods must be climbing the walls. Woods finished his first round at 10:57 Friday morning, shooting 4-over— after reaching the 15th hole even. That was it for the day, because the second group of golfers from Thursday’s washed-out round went off first in Friday’s second round. Woods had to wait more than 24 hours to begin his second round, tentatively slated for 11:06 a. m. today.

Hans-n brothers

No. It was hard keeping them straight Friday. Peter Hanson, who led at one point and was a shot back halfway through his second round, is a Swede. Soren Hansen, who was 2-under as darkness approached, is from Denmark. Hansen made the Ryder Cup in 2008, becoming the second Dane to represent Europe, after Thomas Bjorn.

No guarantee

Mike Weir has held a firstround lead five times in his PGA career and never won any of them. Dating to 1959, only eight first-round leaders went on to win the U. S. Open. The last was Tiger Woods, who did it at Bethpage in 2002. In case you forgot, last year’s first-round leaders were Kevin Streelman and Justin Hicks.

NFL trivia
Lucas Glover, the firstround leader, is the grandson of Dick Hendley, who played one year in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Glover played golf at Clemson. His grandfather, who raised him, was a football and baseball star at Clemson and is in the school’s sports Hall of Fame.

Good news Barnes

Ricky Barnes was one shot off the lead when play was halted Friday night. You might recall Barnes as the 2002 U. S. Amateur champion who played with Tiger Woods in the first round of the 2003 Masters, and outplayed him. More NFL trivia: His dad punted for the Patriots from 1973-74.
Oh, Canada?

Mike Weir isn’t the only golfer from north of the border making noise at the Open. Winnipeg native Nick Taylor, 21, was 5-under par through 14 holes of his second round Friday to jump into a tie for sixth overall at 2-under. Taylor, an amateur who plays at Washington, shot 73 in the first round. He was the Pac-10 player of the year last season as a junior.
Buffalo Connection

Bill Krone, the former principal at Williamsville North, is a volunteer at the Open. Krone worked the scoreboard in the Media Center on Friday, a long day’s work with first-and second-round scores to post. Krone, a Queens native and University at Buffalo graduate, splits his time between Williamsville and The Villages, Fla. nowadays.
On the Web

Jerry Sullivan is blogging each day from the U. S. Open at the Sully on Sports blog at buffalonews.com.


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