Kelly Is Suddenly a Major Player

The closest Jerry Kelly has come to winning on the PGA Tour was a runner-up finish in the Greater Milwaukee Open, which he considers a fifth major because he grew up in Wisconsin.

Perhaps a weekend at The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., will change his mind.

Playing before a whipping wind began to terrorize the course, Kelly posted a six-under-par 66 and became an unlikely leader Friday in a tournament that is slowly living up to its billing as the next best thing to a major.

On his heels is Paul Azinger, with Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson ready to pounce.

“I’m going to be nervous at any tournament that I’ve got a chance to win,” Kelly said. “I love that feeling.”

Azinger also played in the morning, when 19 of the 29 under-par rounds were recorded, and had a 70 to finish the day one stroke behind Kelly.

Singh caught the brunt of the whipping winds, which is why he was smiling after a 70 that left him two strokes behind Kelly and tied with Scott Hoch and Kenny Perry.

“I would have been happy with even par, but I did better than that. I’ll take that and go to bed,” said Singh, one of the few times he chose a pillow over pounding balls on the driving range.

Kelly, with only one bogey through 36 holes, was at 135, the best two-round score in the tournament in four years.

Woods made a double bogey for the second consecutive day by hitting into the water. This time it was an eight-iron on the island-green 17th, although he still managed a 69 in the morning and was six strokes back, tied with Mickelson and four others.

Woods had to make three great par saves on his first five holes, including a flop shot from a six-foot swath of rough that separated the water from the bunker on the par-five 11th to an elevated surface with only 10 feet of green.

He birdied five of six holes in the middle of his round. He finished with seven consecutive pars.

“I didn’t hit the ball as well as I did yesterday,” said Woods, who will be paired with Mickelson today. “I grinded my way around. It’s really tough out there. It was definitely a day of patience.”

Perry, who hasn’t won in six years, managed seven birdies for a 66, the best round of the day.

Ernie Els, trying to gear up for the Masters in April, missed the cut. So did Davis Love III, who played his first three holes in four over par and missed this tournament’s cut for the first time in 10 years. Coming into the Players, he had played in the final group in his previous three PGA Tour events.

Tom Kite, at 51 the oldest player competing this week, made his record 22nd cut in the tournament. Kite, who competed in the first Players in 1974, shared the previous mark with Tom Watson. Kite missed only The Players Championship in 1981 and made the cut in all but five of those tournaments. He is at one-under 143.

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John Schroeder, winless in six seasons on the Senior PGA Tour, shot a five-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the Emerald Coast Classic at Milton, Fla.

Mike Smith was a stroke back, and Gary Player, Bobby Walzel, Mike McCullough and Andy North opened with 67s.

Schroeder made a 70-foot putt from just off the green on the par-three third hole. He started a string of three birdies with a 14-footer on No. 5, and added a 20-footer on No. 6. He two-putted from 25 feet for birdie on the seventh hole, and sank a 10-footer for his final birdie on No. 13.