Verplank holds lead at Canadian Open

MONTREAL -- The scenario is familiar to Scott Verplank. Now all he has to do is rewrite the ending.

Despite not hitting the ball as crisply as he wanted, Verplank emerged from a pack of players who battled hot, swirling winds and posted a 4-under 66 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead in the Canadian Open.

Trailing him is Dicky Pride and Australian rookie Paul Gow, followed by 10 others who were within five strokes of the lead. Verplank was in the same position at the Byron Nelson Classic in May, only with three times as many guys trying to track him down.

He wound up losing on the fourth hole of a playoff to Robert Damron.

"If I play my game and I'm doing well, I'm not going to worry about what the other guys are doing," Verplank said. "Hopefully, I won't have to look at a leaderboard until the last hole. There's a lot of people close, but you can only take what the golf course gives you."

Verplank, the first rookie to make a Ryder Cup team as a captain's pick, was at 11-under 199. It was the lowest 54-hole score ever at Royal Montreal.

Pride bounced his approach off the bleachers on the 18th and made bogey for a 69. He was one stroke behind along with Gow (66), trying to become the first Australian to win at Royal Montreal since Jim Ferrier in 1950.

Ferrier was also the last man to repeat as Canadian Open champion, something Tiger Woods can't do anything about.

Woods stumbled at the start and never got on track. He finished with a 69 and was eight strokes out of the lead.

Allianz Championship

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- Jim Thorpe, coming off his first victory of the season, capped a 6-under-par 65 with an 18-foot birdie putt and held a one-shot lead after two rounds of the inaugural Allianz Championship.

Thorpe's closing birdie got him to 9-under 133, one shot ahead of Tom Kite and Isao Aoki, who also shot a 65, his lowest round of the year.

Bruce Lietzke was another stroke back at 7-under.

Williams Championship

TULSA, Okla. -- Donna Andrews set a course record with a career-best 8-under-par 62 and took a four-stroke lead after two rounds of the inaugural Williams Championship.

Andrews, who called a penalty stroke on herself on the 18th hole, started the round two shots behind co-leaders Kelly Robbins and Gloria Park and ended it at 8-under 132.

Rachel Teske, Rosie Jones and Wendy Ward, were at 136.

-- From wire reports