GOLF ROUNDUP : Couples Finishes Fast for Three-Shot Lead After 36 Holes

An eagle-birdie-par finish wasn’t really necessary, Fred Couples said, but it sure was welcome.

“A big, big finish,” Couples said Friday after pulling three strokes in front of the field at the halfway point of the $1-million Nestle Invitational at Orlando, Fla.

The finish, in 30 m.p.h. winds on greens becoming increasingly fast and firm, completed a 69 and put Couples at 136, eight under par on Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club course through 36 holes.

“That’s two rounds under 70,” Couples said. “I don’t think I’ve had two rounds under 70 on this course in the last nine years.

“I wouldn’t have been that disappointed even without the eagle and birdie. Even par would have been a good score today.

“If I can stay consistent, I could have another good chance to win,” said Couples, who has finished first, second and second in the last three weeks.

His closest pursuers, at 139, are John Huston, Australian Mike Harwood and Larry Nelson. Huston and Nelson each shot 71 and Harwood had a second-round 70.

Spain’s Marta Figueras-Dotti shot a six-under-par 67 and took a two-stroke lead over Donna Ammaccapane after the second round of the LPGA Standard Register Ping tournament at Phoenix.

Figueras-Dotti tied the Moon Valley Country Club’s nine-hole course record with a six-under 30 on the front side, then birdied the 345-yard, par-four 14th to pull within one stroke of the course record. Her only bogey of the day, on the par-four, 360-yard 17th, ended any chance at a record round.

The 34-year-old Madrid resident was at seven-under-par 139, two strokes better than Ammaccapane, the defending champion, who shot a 69 on Friday.