NEW ORLEANS - Scott Verplank enjoys his annual trip to New Orleans regardless of how he plays because it gives him a chance to reminisce about a departed friend.
After shooting 63 Friday in the second round of the HP Classic, this year's visit to English Turn has a chance to be extra special.
His 16-under 128 gave him a three-stroke lead and a 36-hole tournament record as the par-72, 7,116-yard course continued to yield low scores.
Brian Gay and Todd Barranger, players who rarely have made the cut this season, were tied for second. Davis Love and first-round co-leader and Tampa Chamberlain graduate Akio Sadakata, who shot a front-nine 29 Thursday, were among five another stroke back.
Tommy Moore, Verplank's teammate at Oklahoma State, was the golf instructor at English Turn before he died of a rare blood disorder in 1998. Moore, who played on the PGA Tour from 1990-94, was 35.
Verplank said he had dinner with Tracy Moore, his widow, Thursday night.
"Yeah, winning here would be extra cool because his widow is here and their son, and his mom and dad still live here," said Verplank, who was two years behind Moore in school. "He was kind of my guide through college, and we were roommates and good buddies. He had a pretty big influence on me."
John Daly withdrew after injuring his right wrist.
NICKLAUS IN HUNT: Jack Nicklaus birdied three of the four holes he played in the weather-delayed second round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am at the Cliffs in Travelers Rest, S.C., on the Nationwide Tour.
Nicklaus, competing with his four sons, teed off just before 7 p.m. and displayed the skill that won him 18 majors and 73 PGA Tour events before play was stopped by darkness.
Nicklaus, 63, talked of shooting his age after the first round just to make the cut at his first Nationwide event, the PGA Tour's feeder circuit.
"Yeah, it's realistic," Nicklaus said. "It's a goal that I've got to shoot for because you've got to shoot the lowest score you can."
Nicklaus was 3 under, six shots behind leaders Tripp Isenhour and Rick Price and tied for 34th, well within the top 60 and ties that will make the cut.
MICHELOB LIGHT OPEN: Lorena Ochoa has been a model of consistency, playing 36 holes without bogey. Grace Park's two rounds have included 11 birdies, four bogeys and an eagle followed immediately by double bogey.
They ended up in the same place: as co-leaders at 7-under 135 in the LPGA event in Williamsburg, Va.
They led by one over Suzann Pettersen, who bogeyed two of her final three holes to give up the lead, and Akiko Fukushima, who birdied two of her final three holes.
"Maybe I will go to (nearby) Busch Gardens and do all the rides and get it done there and get it over with," Park said after 3-under 68. "A lot of great shots, a couple of misses, a lot of great putts. Lots of bad putts."
Play was suspended for about an hour shortly before 6 p.m. because of a thunderstorm.
Ochoa began the day tied for the lead with Giulia Sergas and Denise Killeen at 5 under, with Park one stroke behind. Killeen, who made consecutive birdies Friday to get back to 5 under, then made five consecutive bogeys to finish well down on the leaderboard. Sergas shot 74 and finished five shots off the lead.
BRUNO'S MEMORIAL CLASSIC: Hale Irwin shot 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Larry Ziegler and Bruce Fleisher in the first round of the Champions Tour event in Hoover, Ala. Irwin recorded five birdies on the final nine holes and didn't bogey on the 6,992-yard, par-72 Founder's Course at the Greystone Golf Club.
ITALIAN OPEN: Fredrik Widmark shot 7-under 65 to share the second-round lead at the $1.2-million European PGA event in Brescia.
Peter O'Malley bogeyed No. 18 for 2-under 70 and was tied with Widmark at 10-under 134 at the 7,112-yard Gardagolf Country Club.
O'Malley's first-round 64 equaled the course record set by Bernhard Langer in 1997.
