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Associated PressAnnika Sorenstam chips from the bunker at 16 at the LPGA Championship. She saved par.
WILMINGTON, Del. - Annika Sorenstam didn't make the cut at the Colonial, which is not to say her two days on the PGA Tour were a total loss.
One reason she played against the best in the world was to elevate her game for the major championships on the LPGA Tour.
"So far, so good," she said Friday.
Sorenstam flirted with a record score in a major and settled for 7-under 64 to take a two-stroke lead at the LPGA Championship.
"I worked really hard this year to improve certain parts of my game," she said. "That was in preparation for Colonial, but mostly for the majors."
Hee-Won Han shot 2-under 69 in the morning and was five strokes ahead of Sorenstam. That didn't last very long.
With a few key putts and a par save from the bunker, Sorenstam got past Han and into the lead.
She was at 8-under 134.
"I have not had four good rounds on this golf course, and there's no reason for me not to do it," Sorenstam said. "Now I've got to take care of business."
Three times, she ran off three consecutive birdies, and afterward, she didn't even realize it.
Nor was she aware standing on the 18th tee, already 8 under for her round, that a birdie would give her 62. No man or woman has shot lower than 63 in a major.
Her 4-wood sailed into the right rough, and Sorenstam had to pitch back to the fairway, short of the creek. She reached the front of the green and had a long two-putt for bogey.
Wendy Ward, playing with Sorenstam for the first two rounds, rolled in a 40-footer for birdie on No. 16 and another one for par on the final hole for 69. She was three back and plays with Sorenstam again today.
SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Gil Morgan tied the course record with 4-under 66 to grab a share of the lead with Allen Doyle after the second round in Newtown Square, Pa. Morgan needed only 28 putts, including a 3-footer for birdie on the final hole.
Doyle, who won the Senior PGA title in 1999, shot 67 to tie Morgan at 4-under 136. John Jacobs also shot 67 and was a stroke back at 137.
The 66s tied the record set by John Barnum, Bob McCallister and Cary Middlecoff in the 1962 PGA Championship.
CAPITAL OPEN: David Duval shot a course-record 62 in Potomac, Md., to tie for second in the PGA Tour event, two shots behind Rory Sabbatini, with Notah Begay, Tom Gillis and Niclas Fasth.
Duval had nine birdies and no bogeys, breaking the TPC at Avenel record of 63, accomplished nine times by eight golfers. Starting on the back nine, his highlights included a 40-foot birdie putt at No. 17 and a sand wedge out of the fairway bunker to 2 feet at the par-4 fifth.
Duval had a 29 after nine holes and was 9 under for the day with three holes left when he took a risky whack through the trees after pulling his tee shot at No. 7. The shot found the green, and he two-putted for par. He then missed birdie putts at Nos. 8 and 9.
BRITISH MASTERS: Colin Montgomerie missed the cut in Meriden, England. He shot 3-over 75 to miss the cut by four strokes, the first time in five years he has missed consecutive cuts in European events.
Greg Owen (68), who has gone 68 holes without a bogey, and Richard Green (66) are tied for first at 8-under 136.