GOLF ROUNDUP : Nicklaus Advances; Azinger Disqualified

With Paul Azinger knocked out after a disqualification, Jack Nicklaus moved into contention for the lead of the Doral Open at Miami Friday by shooting a nine-under-par 63 in the second round.

“The best round of golf I’ve had in a long, long time,” Nicklaus said of a round that put him a stroke behind Kenny Perry’s 36-hole lead of 134.

Azinger, winner of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, was tied for the lead until he was disqualified for an inadvertent infraction of a rule in Thursday’s opening round.

Nicklaus said it probably was his lowest competitive round since a 63 in the 1980 U.S. Open.

“I had a ball,” he said. “The best I’ve played, in every aspect of the game, in a long, long time.”

Azinger shot a 65 that should have been a 67. He was disqualified after a television viewer raised a question about his actions on the 18th hole Thursday, when he played a second shot out of the edge of a lake.

A review of the film showed Azinger, in taking his stance, twice made a pawing motion with his left foot, moving rocks or coral. It is a violation to move a loose impediment in a hazard, and calls for a two-stroke penalty.

Azinger, unaware of the infraction, did not assess himself the penalty and signed for a par-four on that hole. He was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.

“It was not a bad decision,” he said. “It was the correct decision. It’s just hard to swallow.”

Cindy Rarick held a two-stroke lead entering today’s final round after shooting a two-under-par 69 in the Women’s Kemper Open at Wailea, Hawaii.

Rarick, who has led throughout, played deliberately whereas defending champion Beth Daniel fell out of contention with a triple bogey on the seventh hole.

Rarick was at 10-under 203. Deb Richard made the strongest move, shooting a 67, and was eight-under. Jane Geddes and Dawn Coe were six-under.