GOLF ROUNDUP : It’s Seeming More Like Old Times for Azinger

It was classic Paul Azinger--before the cancer, before the comeback, before his driver and putter abandoned him.

“I really feel like I’m all the way back,” he said Friday. “I’m getting better and better.”

With five birdies and no bogeys, Azinger shot a five-under-par 67 to move into contention after two rounds of the Western Open at Elmont, Ill.

He trails Jay Haas by four strokes at the 7,073-yard Cog Hill Golf and Country Club course. Haas, who birdied the final two holes for a 68, is at seven-under 137.

First-round leader Tom Watson and Steve Lowery are two shots behind and Brett Ogle three. Justin Leonard, John Huston and Jim Carter are tied with Azinger at 141.

Azinger said the round was his best on the tour since he was found to have lymphoma in his right shoulder in December 1993, at the end of a season in which he earned almost $1.5 million.

“I certainly had a high standard with which to measure myself,” Azinger said. “I may never measure up to ‘93, but that is the last thing I can draw on.”

Tiger Woods, the 19-year-old U.S. Amateur champion, shot 71 for a 145 total and made the cut. Woods is playing his first event since withdrawing from the U.S. Open because of a wrist injury.

Ben Crenshaw, Ernie Els, Lee Janzen and Curtis Strange failed to make the cut.

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Mike Hill’s seven-under-par 64 was good for a two-shot lead at the Kroger Senior Classic at Kings Island, Ohio, as 40 of the 78 players in the field finished under par at the Golf Center.

Ben Smith, Gay Brewer, J.C. Snead and Isao Aoki were at 66, and five players shot 67.

It was Hill’s lowest score since his 64 in the first round of the Legends of Golf tournament in April. Hill and Lee Trevino won that two-man competition.

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Former champion Jane Geddes and playing partner Colleen Walker shot five-under-par 66s to share the first-round lead in the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic in Ohio.

Geddes, who won the tournament in 1987, holed out a nine-iron from 130 yards for an eagle three on No. 7. She and Walker had bogey-free rounds and hold a one-shot lead over Muffin Spencer-Devlin and Kathryn Marshall.