GOLF ROUNDUP : Nicklaus on Pace for Fourth Seniors Title

Jack Nicklaus, winner of three of his five starts on the Senior Tour, shot his second consecutive six-under-par 66 Friday to take a five-shot lead at the midway point of the PGA Seniors Championship at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

“I’m confident with the way I’m hitting my irons,” Nicklaus said. “And I’m putting well. I don’t know how I’ll play tomorrow. I never do.

“But the object is to shoot the lowest score over 72 holes. I don’t care if I shoot a pair of 75s if I win the golf tournament.”

Jim Dent matched Nicklaus with a 66 and is second at 137. Tom Joyce, playing in his first official event on the Senior Tour, is third at 138 after shooting 71.

Lee Trevino, the dominant player on the Senior Tour last year, is 12 back at 144 after a 72. Chi Chi Rodriguez, the seniors’ leading money winner this year, is at 145. And Gary Player, the defending champion and three-time winner of this tournament, is at 146.

Masters champion Ian Woosnam shot his second consecutive 10-over-par 82 and missed the cut at the Benson and Hedges International at St. Mellion in England.

Ireland’s Philip Walton shot a three-under-par 69 and leads the tournament at five-under 139. Bernhard Langer is in second place two shots back.

“When I got an eagle two at the third, I really thought I might have a chance,” said Woosnam, who missed a cut for the first time in three years. “But I couldn’t hit the ball and the more I tried the worse it got.”

Woosnam, who won his first major title at Augusta on Sunday, will have three weeks off before playing in the Italian Open.

Despite a round interrupted by a three-hour rain delay, Chip Beck shot a seven-under-par 64 to take the second-round lead in the Heritage Classic at Hilton Head, S.C.

Beck is at 132. He leads Davis Love III by a stroke.

Defending champion Payne Stewart, David Canipe and Lanny Wadkins are tied for third at 136.