Watson Feeling Right at Home

The local fans made Tom Watson feel every bit like the hometown favorite.

Delighting the biggest gallery on the course, the Kansas City, Mo., native shot a four-under-par 66 Friday on the short-but-unforgiving Prairie Dunes layout and seized a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the U.S. Senior Open at Hutchinson, Kan.

Watson, who makes his home about four hours northeast of the course, had 11 one-putt greens. He recorded two bogeys and six birdies to go to four-under 136 for the tournament.

Bunched one stroke behind him were Morris Hatalsky, Bob Gilder, Mark James and defending champion Allen Doyle.

“This certainly is a homer crowd right here,” Watson said. “It’s been great. I saw quite a few people here I hadn’t seen for a while. They all came to Prairie Dunes to see me play. It’s fun to play in front of your home crowd.”

Hatalsky shot a 67, and Gilder birdied the last two holes for a 66 that tied Watson and Peter Jacobsen for the day’s best round.

James and Doyle squandered a chance to catch Watson when they each missed par putts on their finishing holes.

Doyle, whose closing-round 63 last year vaulted him to the championship, had a 68 to go with his first-round 69 and is 11 under for his last three rounds of U.S. Senior Open competition.

Jacobsen’s 66 left him two strokes back at 138, followed by D.A. Weibring and Bruce Lietzke at 139.

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Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam moved closer to a final-round showdown in the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship at Gladstone, N.J.

With her mother shouting “Good shot, Michelle!” after each booming drive, the 16-year-old Wie beat friend Christina Kim, 3 and 2, on Friday in the second round. The top-seeded Sorenstam defeated Heather Young, also 3 and 2.

Wie advanced to a third-round match against LPGA Championship winner Se Ri Pak. Sorenstam will play former Duke star Brittany Lang. Pak beat Lorie Kane, 1-up, and Lang eliminated Seon-Hwa Lee, 3 and 2, on the hilly Hamilton Farm course.

“I feel like I’m playing very solidly,” Wie said. “Obviously, tomorrow is a whole other day and you never know what might happen when you wake up.”

Juli Inkster remained in position for a possible quarterfinal match against Sorenstam, beating Catriona Matthew, 4 and 3. The eighth-seeded Inkster will face Marcy Hart -- a 4-and-3 winner over Liselotte Neumann -- this morning, with the survivor advancing to face the Sorenstam-Lang winner.