Unfinished Business at Bay Hill

Charles Howell III and Stephen Ames got the best of both worlds Friday in the Bay Hill Invitational at Orlando, Fla. They were among only 30 players to complete the second round, and they were atop the leaderboard.

Howell ended his long day with a short birdie putt that gave him rounds of 71-68, giving him a share of the early lead. Ames also played 36 holes and posted the same scores. He birdied five of six holes in one stretch to join Howell at five-under 139.

Joe Ogilvie wound up as the first-round leader, finishing with a 68 and then returning more than nine hours later to play the first three holes of his second round. He birdied No. 3 and was at five under.

Vijay Singh found a solution to his putting problems by holing out from 152 yards with a nine-iron and wound up with rounds of 72 and 68, leaving him one shot behind.

Thirty-seven players, including Tiger Woods and Ernie Els at one under, did not tee off and could wind up playing 36 holes today.

It all was caused by rain that washed out all but three hours Thursday.

“I felt like I was in college again,” Howell said of playing 36 holes. “I made the turn, they handed me a sandwich and told me to keep going.”

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Lorena Ochoa shot a five-under 67 to open a two-shot lead in the Safeway International, with Annika Sorenstam three strokes behind and the resurgent Michelle Wie also in contention at Superstition Mountain, Ariz.

Ochoa, the LPGA Tour’s rookie of the year two seasons ago, was on pace for an even bigger lead until she bogeyed the 14th hole. She birdied the 18th to finish at 12-under 132 halfway through the tour’s first 72-hole event of the year.

Soo-Yun Kang was second after a 66, and Sorenstam, the defending champion, was nine under after a 69.

Wie, 15, rallied in the second round to run her string of consecutive cuts made to 11. The long-hitting teen appeared to be in jeopardy of an early exit when she bogeyed the first hole.

But she recovered with an eagle and five birdies to get back in the hunt for her first LPGA title. She finished with a 67 and is eight shots behind Ochoa.