Love III Triples His Pleasure

Davis Love III tied a PGA Tour record with three eagles Friday and doubled his lead after two rounds of The International at Castle Rock, Colo.

Love, who was in front by five points after the opening round, had 17 points in the second round for a 36-hole total of 36 under the scoring system used in this event.

That was good for a 10-point lead over John Rollins, whose 15-point round gave him 26. Phil Mickelson was at 22.

He eagled three -- each worth five points -- in his first 10 holes -- and threatened to run away with the tournament at Castle Pines Golf Club.

During his morning round, Love increased his lead to as many as 25 points, and when he finished his round he had a 17-point lead.

Vijay Singh and Kent Jones each had 19 points. Charles Howell III and Bob Tway each had 18 and Retief Goosen had 17.

Three eagles in a round tie the PGA Tour record, accomplished 12 times previously -- most recently in 2001 by Mathew Goggin in the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas. Love was one of the previous record-holders, doing it in the Hawaiian Open in 1994.

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Candie Kung has come up with a novel way of celebrating birthdays.

A year after shooting a 65 in the first round of the Women’s British Open on her 21st birthday, she birdied the final five holes for an eight-under 64 and a one-shot lead after the first round of the Wendy’s Championship for Children at Dublin, Ohio.

Kung, who attended Fountain Valley High and USC, birdied both par-fives on the front side and was two under through 11 holes.

Without having to make a putt longer than 12 feet, she birdied six of the last seven holes to finish one stroke in front of Moira Dunn.

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Jerry McGee, who hasn’t won a tournament since joining the Champions Tour in 1993, shot a five-under 67 and was tied with Morris Hatalsky and Jim Thorpe for the first-round lead at the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn.

Hatalsky dropped into the three-way tie with a final-hole bogey, while Thorpe moved into it with an eagle on the par-five 18th hole.

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Annika Sorenstam shot her second consecutive 68 and was two strokes behind leader Silvia Cavalleri halfway through the Ladies European Tour HP Open at Stockholm. Cavalleri broke the course record with a seven-under-par 65.

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Jane Park of Oak Valley defeated defending champion Becky Lucidi of Poway, 2 up, in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur championship at Gladwyne, Pa., and will play Paula Creamer of Pleasanton, Calif., today in a semifinal match between two 16-year-olds.

Park routed Diana Ramage of Fayetteville, Ga., 6 and 4, earlier in the day. Creamer, the top-ranked girl in the nation, defeated Erica Blasberg of Corona, 6 and 5, in the morning round.

The other semifinal will be between Virada Nirapathpongporn, 21, of Thailand and In Bee Park, 15, of Eustis, Fla. -- the No. 2 ranked girl in the nation. Nirapathpongporn defeated stroke-play medalist Aree Song of South Korea, 1 up, in the quarterfinals.

In Bee Park, 15, advanced with a 4 and 2 victory over Ashley Knoll of The Woodlands, Texas. Earlier she beat UCLA’s Charlotte Mayorkas, 2 and 1.

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The winners of the first three majors this year -- Mike Weir, Jim Furyk and Ben Curtis -- will be grouped together for the first two rounds of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.

The $6 million tournament, which begins Thursday, is the fourth and final major of the year in men’s professional golf. Tiger Woods will play the first two rounds with the last two PGA Championship winners, Rich Beem and David Toms.

Woods’ group has a 6 a.m. PDT tee time Thursday beginning at the 10th and an 11:05 a.m. PDT tee time Friday on the first tee.

Staff Writer Thomas Bonk contributed to this report.