Martin Misses Cut After a 75

Casey Martin’s cart didn’t help him handle the heat or make the cut.

Martin, playing in his first tournament since the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial decision to allow him to use a cart in competition, shot a three-over-par 75 in Friday’s second round and missed the cut in the Buy.com Greater Cleveland Open at Concord, Ohio.

Battling humid conditions, temperatures in the upper 80s and an inconsistent long game, Martin finished with a two-round total of one-under 143 and will not be in the weekend field for the fifth time in eight tournaments this season.

“It was a tough day out there,” he said, wiping his brow. “I’ve been struggling with my game as you can see. I’m just not hitting it straight, and with my driving coming and going like it has, I can’t score very well.”

Martin finished his round at 5:15 p.m. with many golfers still on the course but none of them fell back and he missed the cut by two strokes.

He had hoped having the court ruling behind him would kick-start his game. Martin had previous success on the Quail Hollow Country Club course, shooting a personal-best 63 in the second round when he finished second in 1999.

However, Martin said he hasn’t been thinking about the court’s decision and that it hasn’t changed him or his game.

“I haven’t thought that I’m free or anything like that,” he said. “But I’ve never felt that way. I’ve just got to hit it straight.”

The first double eagle of Gil Morgan’s career highlighted his course-record nine-under 63 and the defending champion took a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Instinet Classic senior tournament at Princeton, N.J.

Morgan holed a three-iron from 256 yards on the par-five seventh hole at TPC at Jasna Polana. He also had an eagle, five birdies and a bogey--all within the first 11 holes--to break the course record of 65, set in last year’s first round by Tom Jenkins, Bob Murphy and John Mahaffey.

Bruce Summerhays and Jenkins were tied for second at 65, Gary McCord and Jimmy Powell were another stroke back and seven players were at 67.

Morgan’s double eagle came on a 558-yard hole with a slight dogleg left.

“I hit a pretty good shot,” he said. “With that far to the hole, I started to think the three-iron would be too hot.

“It landed a little short of the green and kind of scooted down toward the pin. I couldn’t see the hole but everybody started jumping up and down saying, ‘It went in, it went in.’ I thought it had stopped, so I was pretty excited.”

Beth Daniel shot a two-under 70 at the $2.1-million Evian Masters and shared the third-round lead at Evian, France, with Sweden’s Maria Hjorth and Australia’s Rachel Teske.

Aiming for her 33rd U.S. Tour title but her first since 1995, Daniel was at 11-under 205. Hjorth, the second-round leader, shot a 71 and Teske a 66, the lowest round of the day, to join Daniel at 205.

Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson slipped to a 73 for 208 and was tied for fourth with Jackie Gallagher-Smith, who had a 70.

Annika Sorenstam shot a 72 for 210, one ahead of U.S. Open champion Karrie Webb, who had a 67.