Sorenstam Leads by Two

The only bad shot Annika Sorenstam hit Friday cost her a chance at history in the LPGA Championship. All that mattered was a seven-under-par 64 that put her halfway home to her ultimate goal.

Starting her second round five strokes out of the lead, Sorenstam took the trouble out of DuPont Country Club with a brilliant display of accuracy and built a two-stroke lead over Hee-Won Han going into the weekend at Wilmington, Del.

“I have not had four good rounds on this golf course, and there’s no reason for me not to do it,” said Sorenstam, who was at 134. “Now I’ve got to take care of business.”

A birdie on the 18th hole would have given her a 62, the lowest score by a man or woman in a major. But her four-wood off the tee sailed into the right rough, and Sorenstam had to pitch back to the fairway and settled for a bogey.

Han shot 69 in the morning and was at six-under 136.

Wendy Ward, playing with Sorenstam the first two rounds, rolled in a 40-footer for birdie on No. 16 and another one for par on the final hole for a 69. She was at 137 and gets to play with Sorenstam again today.

Meanwhile, Sorenstam turned down a $1-million challenge for a match with PGA Tour journeyman John Riegger.

“It’s quite an interesting topic, and everybody is coming up with some ideas,” Sorenstam said. “I did what I wanted to do [playing against men at Colonial], and I had a great time doing it. It was the biggest challenge of my life, and that’s where I want to leave it at.”

Suzy Whaley, the Connecticut club pro who qualified for the Greater Hartford Open on the PGA Tour, shot an 82 and finished at 19-over 161.

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David Duval shot a course-record 62 at the FBR Capital Open, ending a 1 1/2-year slump.

Duval, who shot a first-round 74 at Potomac, Md., moved into a tie for second, two shots behind leader Rory Sabbatini. Sabbatini shot a 66 for a two-day total of eight-under 134. Notah Begay, Tom Gillis and Niclas Fasth joined Duval at 136.

Rich Beem, the 1999 champion, and Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton were three shots off the lead in the final warmup before the U.S. Open.

“It goes without saying I haven’t played particularly well for a year or so,” said Duval, who has missed the cut in nine of 12 tournaments this year.

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Gil Morgan tied the course record with a four-under 66 to grab a share of the lead with Allen Doyle after the second round of the Senior PGA Championship at Newtown Square, Pa.

Morgan needed only 28 putts, including a three-foot birdie putt on the final hole, to tie the course record, which also was matched by Seiji Ebihara of Japan on Friday.

Doyle, who won the Senior PGA title in 1999, shot a 67 on an up-and-down afternoon at Aronimink Golf Club. He had seven birdies and four bogeys to match Morgan’s four-under 136 total.

“If someone told me at the beginning of the day that I’d have seven birdies, I’d have questioned their sanity,” Doyle said.