It Doesn’t Take Long for Canizares to Steal Doyle’s Thunder

Allen Doyle said his five-stroke lead in the Senior Tour Championship wouldn’t last. Jose Maria Canizares took only six holes Friday to prove Doyle right.

The Spaniard had an eagle and three birdies on his first six holes to pass Doyle and everybody else for a one-stroke lead halfway through the season-ending event at the new TPC at Myrtle Beach in Murrels Inlet, S.C.

Canizares’ seven-under 65 left him at 10-under 134, one in front of John Jacobs, two ahead of Leonard Thompson, and three clear of Doyle, Tom Watson and Hubert Green.

The expected contenders in the elite field of 31--money leader Larry Nelson, defending player of the year Bruce Fleisher, and U.S. Senior Open winner Hale Irwin--couldn’t come close to Canizares.

“It’s very difficult to make birdie, birdie, birdie. But it’s OK, I try,” Canizares said. “I had a lot of chances.”

He took advantage of nearly all of them to steal the spotlight from Doyle, whose first-round 64 led to speculation of a Tiger Woods-like runaway.

Canizares, who began the round five strokes behind, hit a sand wedge to eight feet on No. 1 for his first birdie and followed with a 15-foot eagle putt on the next hole. A birdie on the sixth hole tied Doyle. The Spaniard moved ahead with birdies on Nos. 16-17.

“If you play good, the birdies come easy,” Canizares said. “If you play so-so, the bogeys also come easy.”

Little came easy this day for Doyle, a big change from his opening round that included two eagles.

His birdie on the second hole broke a momentary tie with Canizares. But he had bogeys on the ninth and 11th holes and then a disastrous double bogey on the narrow, 538-yard 18th.

Doyle’s second shot landed in the water next to green. After a drop and a wedge eight feet beyond the hole, Doyle three-putted to finish with a 73.

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Tom Scherrer upstaged the headliners and Steve Lowery rushed to stay atop the leaderboard.

Scherrer, playing with John Daly and Lee Janzen, shot a six-under 66 to move within two strokes of the lead after two rounds of the Southern Farm Bureau Classic at Madison, Miss.

Lowery, the first-round leader, managed to squeeze in a 67, finishing just as play was suspended because of darkness, to remain in the lead at 13-under 131.

Jim Carter shot a 64, the best round of the day, to move into second at 132.

Pete Jordan matched Carter’s 64 to tie Scherrer and Billy Andrade at 133.

Jim Gallagher Jr. provided the shot of the day with a double eagle on No. 5. He shot a 65 for a 135 total.

Daly, who won the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 British Open, shot a 70 and is six under for the tournament. Janzen, a two-time U.S. Open champion, also shot a 70 and is seven under.

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Rachel Hetherington is starting to find her way around the golf course with ease, the latest proof being a six-under 66 that gave her a share of the lead after the first round of the LPGA Mizuno Classic at Otsu, Japan.

Hetherington made four consecutive birdies beginning at the fourth hole and added two more birdies on the back nine at the windy, 6,423-yard Seta Golf Club North.

“Everything kind of came together for me today,” said Hetherington, who has played solidly this season but hasn’t won since April 1999. “Tomorrow, I’m not going to let any small chance go without taking advantage of it.”

Hetherington is tied with Sophie Gustafson, who birdied the last four holes and eight overall in the $850,000 tournament.

The round matches Hetherington’s best this year, which she carded two weeks ago at the AFLAC Champions in Mobile, Ala. It’s also her lowest in seven rounds she has played at the Mizuno Classic. She finished tied for ninth last year.

Diana D’Alessio and Japan’s Midori Yoneyama were tied for third place at 67, followed by defending champion Maria Hjorth and three others at 68.

The group sitting two strokes behind the leaders included South Korean Ko Woo-soon, a former Mizuno Classic champion.