The Las Vegas Invitational is turning into quite a family affair for Jim and John Cook.
Jim Cook is running it, while his son, John, tries to win it.John Cook, trying to make up for a miserable year, shot an 8-under-par 64 Thursday to move into a tie for the second-round lead with Bob Tway at 13-under with three rounds left in the five-day event. Tway actually has a raw score of 130, one stroke ahead of Cook, but both are 13-under because they have played different courses.
It was a return to form for Cook in a tournament in which he scored his last win in 1992 before beginning a gradual slide that saw him go from the third leading money-winner on the PGA Tour to No. 113 entering this event.
"I've had a year that's been just awful," Cook said. "There hasn't been one thing happen that's any good."
Cook followed a first-round 67 with an almost perfect round that could have been even better had he not missed two putts of less than two feet.
It came in a tournament his dad manages and where he has won once and lost in a playoff another year.
It was Tway who beat Cook in a 1990 playoff for the Las Vegas Invitational title, and who is looking to make a strong finish in a year in which he has won more than $700,000.
Tway shot a second straight 65 to gain a share of the lead. Three golfers were a shot back at 12-under, with five more at 11-under in a tournament that historically yields some of the lowest scores on the tour.
At Virginia Water, England, Ben Crenshaw had more than golf on his mind when he teed off in the 36-hole quarterfinals of the World Match Play Championship.
One concern was today's opponent, Italian Ryder Cup player Costantino Rocca. But this year's Masters champion and Ryder Cup member also was worried about the results from a doctor's exam at home in Austin, Texas.
The 43-year-old Crenshaw detected blood in his urine earlier in the week, but the physician gave him the OK to play.
"I was passing some blood in my urine, and I wanted to get it checked out," he said. "It was a bit scary. I'm on antibiotics and I think it might be a kidney problem."
In today's three other quarterfinals, American Lee Janzen played defending champion Ernie Els of South Africa, Germany's Bernhard Langer met Nick Price of Zimbabwe, and Colin Montgomerie faced U.S. PGA champion Steve Elkington of Australia.
Janzen, left off last month's Ryder Cup by team captain Lanny Wadkins, defeated Japanese Katsuyoshi Tomori 7 and 6 in Thursday's 36-hole first round. Other first-round results saw Langer defeat Ryder Cup teammate Sam Torrance 5 and 4, Montgomerie take a 2-up victory over American David Duval, and Rocca top Vijah Singh of Fiji 4 and 3.
At Cheju Island, South Korea, Betsy King and Pat Bradley each shot 70s today to share the lead with Laura Davis at six-under-par 138 after the second round of the $475,000 World Championship of Women's Golf.
Fast and tricky greens continued to be a problem for most of the 16 players taking part in the championship at the 6,188-yard, par-72 Paradise Golf Course.
"I could have played better than that," Davis said, complaining of her putting and her score of 71.
Defending champion Beth Daniel turned in the day's best score of 68, which helped her move within one stroke at 139 with Val Skinner.
Two back at 140 were Dottie Mochrie and Rosie Jones.