Woods stumbles, falls into tie at NEC

Tiger Woods double-bogeyed his final hole of the second round to finish with a 70 that dropped him into a tie for the lead with Luke Donald at the NEC Invitational on Friday.

Woods' 8-iron caromed off a tree and 20 yards to the right on No. 18. From there, a 7-iron bounded through the green and into deep rough. From behind the green, he hit a poor chip to 20 feet and left the bogey putt short, as he did several putts during the round.

Donald made three straight birdies early in his round and shot 67, joining Woods at 4-under 136.

Woods wasn't alone in his late-round misery.

Vijay Singh was tied for the lead at 5 under until he dumped his third shot into the water on the 667-yard 16th hole and had to chip in with a fairway metal for a bogey. He spun his approach off the 17th green and failed to save par from 10 feet, and he nearly made it three straight bogeys until he escaped with a pitch to 4 feet on the last hole.

He shot 71 and was at 3-under 137.

Henrik Stenson of Sweden was at 5 under until he found the left rough on the 18th hole, took two shots to advance the ball to the front of the green and also took double bogey for a 71 that put him one shot behind the leaders.

Also at 137 were PGA runner-up Thomas Bjorn, Paul McGinley and Chris DiMarco, who avoided such calamity. Bjorn played bogey-free for a 67, while McGinley had a 66 to match the low score on a day of blustery, deceptive conditions.

PGA Tour

Defending champion Vaughn Taylor shot a 67 to take the second-round lead at the Reno-Tahoe Open in Reno, Nev., with a tournament record 13-under par 131, and Bill Glasson shot a course record 10-under 62 to move into contention.

Todd Fischer, playing in his hometown, birdied his first five holes for a 67 and was in second place at 12-under at Montreux Golf and Country Club on the edge of the Sierra Nevada.

Glasson was two more shots back after knocking in a pair of eagles, followed by Jonathan Kaye and Swedes Jesper Parnevik and Fredrik Jacobson at 9 under.

Craig Barlow was 8 under after his second 68. Duffy Waldorf and Aaron Baddeley were in a group another stroke back at 7 under.

Taylor, who's only victory on the PGA Tour came as a rookie a year ago at Reno, broke the 36-hole record of 133 that John Cook set while winning in 2001 and Corey Pavin tied last year.

LPGA Tour

Rookie Sung Ah Yim and Soo-Yun Kang each shot 8-under 64s for a one-stroke lead over Rosie Jones and defending champion Hee-Won Han after the first round of the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore.

Yim had six birdies on the front nine, leading to the best round of her first LPGA season. The 21-year-old from South Korea, who has two top-10 finishes this year, made a 35-foot chip shot to birdie the par-4 fourth hole.

Jones, who plans to retire from playing full-time next year, shot a 7-under 65, as did Han, who last year beat Lorie Kane on the first playoff hole at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.

Australian Wendy Doolan, Laura Diaz, Aree Song were two shots back at 66 after the first round's conclusion.

Champions Tour

Tom Kite, Jim Thorpe, Brad Bryant and Morris Hatalsky each shot 6-under par rounds of 66 to share the first-round lead at the Boeing Greater Seattle Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash.

Andy Bean, John Harris, Hale Irwin, Bruce Lietzke, James Mason, Peter Jacobsen and Craig Stadler all were one stroke behind at 5-under 67 on the par-72 Tournament Players Course at Snoqualmie Ridge.

Bryant and Hatalsky each collected six birdies on the back nine, with Bryant surging into a share of the lead with birdies on the final two holes.

-- From wire reports