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IRVING, Texas - The position atop the leaderboard should be familiar to Tiger Woods. So should the company he'll be keeping at the Byron Nelson Championship.
Woods sprinkled in a few birdies with solid par saves to shoot 3-under 67 on Friday at cool, blustery Cottonwood Valley and take a one-shot lead for the second week in a row. The surprise is who will join him on the first tee today: 47-year-old Mark O'Meara, his best buddy on tour.
Instead of a practice round at a major championship or a casual round at Isleworth when they're home in Florida, they will be in the final group of a $5.8-million tournament that means something to both for different reasons.
Woods, the No. 1 player in the world, has come under scrutiny for a game that has produced one victory this year and no majors in his past seven tries.
"I've always felt comfortable when I've been in the lead," Woods said, though he lost the 36-hole lead last week at the Wachovia Championship, ending a five-year streak of winning when he led going into the weekend.
Woods says there's a reason he has had success when in the lead (20-5 with at least a share of the lead going into the weekend, 30-2 going into the final round).
"I'm usually playing halfway decent," he said. "That does help."
Woods was at 8-under 132.
O'Meara, who shot 66 and is alone in second, has not won on the PGA Tour since the '98 British Open and is playing on a one-time exemption for being in the top 25 in career money.
Sergio Garcia, who finished third in his PGA Tour debut at the Byron Nelson five years ago, birdied three of his last four holes on the TPC at Las Colinas to salvage 68 and was in a group at 134 that included Peter Lonard (70), Jerry Kelly (68) and Jonathan Byrd (67).
Defending champion Vijay Singh also made a nice recovery with birdies on three of his last four holes at Cottonwood Valley. He finished with 67 and was at 135, three back.
"I'm feeling good with the putter, which is something new for me," Singh said.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson had two streaks end. He shot 2-over 72, ending a run of 21 rounds at par or better; and at 141, he missed the cut for the first time this year.
LPGA: Lorena Ochoa shot 5-under 67 and shared a one-stroke lead with Pat Hurst in the weather-delayed second round of the Franklin (Tenn.) American Mortgage championship.
Play was called because of darkness with 16 on the course.
First-round leader Nancy Scranton, Dorothy Delasin and Wendy Ward were tied for third at 138.
"I need to try to go for it, go straight for the pin and make a lot of birdies out there," said Ochoa, the 2003 rookie of the year who is looking for her first career victory. " ... You've got to play good yourself and not wait for others to make mistakes, so I just need to be confident with my game and be aggressive."
Scranton lipped out a par putt on her final hole to cap a 72. Delasin closed a 67 by chipping past the pin then knocking a par putt 4 feet past the hole.
Ward, who had 70, missed birdie putts of 6, 7 and 12 feet over her final four holes.
Golfers struggled with winds up to 25 mph until rains stopped play for 1 hour, 40 minutes.
Aree Song of Orlando was set to miss the first cut of her rookie season with a 148 total. Song double-bogeyed No. 18 after hitting into the water twice.
EUROPEAN PGA: Simon Dyson of England shot 3-under 69 to take a two-stroke lead in the Asian Open, with Greg Norman four back. Dyson, whose first-round 66 was a course record, was at 9-under 135 after two rounds in Shanghai, China. Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain (66) and Paul McGinley of Ireland (69) shared second at 137. Norman shot par 72, making four bogeys.