Sindelar in suprise halfway lead

Joey Sindelar, mired in a slump that has seen him miss the cut in his six events this year, had a hot putter again and built a one-shot lead halfway through the BellSouth Classic in Duluth, Georgia.

His 6-under-par 66 on Friday gave him a 10-under 134 total for two trips around the rugged hills of the 7,259-yard TPC Sugarloaf club and the lead over John Huston, who shot 67 for 135.

"It is quite a project out there," said Sindelar, who has six PGA Tour victories but none since winning the Hardee's Classic in 1990. "You better be on your toes. You better be either pretty crisp with your game or making a lot of putts because it is a pretty good battle."

First-round leader Paul Stankowski, who played in the morning, had a 70 and was tied at 136 with Phil Mickelson, who shot 69.

Sindelar said anyone who has been on the tour for 15-17 years is going to go through cycles in their game.

"For a few weeks a year, it is just not going to go the way you want," he said. "The bad shots are going to be awful and the good shots are going to be medium. Then it swings back around and your misses kind of kick back into play and your good shots turn out to be gimmees. That is what happened to me this week. I hope it lasts for a couple more days at least."

Starting on the back side, Sindelar parred the first four holes before putting together consecutive birdies from 8 feet and 15 feet. He missed a 3 1/2- footer for birdie on number 16.

Sindelar scored from 30 feet (9 meters) on No. 2 and 10 feet (3 meters) on No. 3, then closed his round by getting another birdie on a short putt at number 7 and his sixth of the day from six feet on the ninth green.

"I am as interested as you are to see what goes on tomorrow," he said.

Huston had seven birdies and two bogeys in his round, sinking two putts of 20 feet (6 meters) and another from 30 feet.

"I putted extremely well today," Huston said.

"Today was pretty much the same kind of day as yesterday," Stankowski said. "I didn't hit it that great. It wasn't what I wanted tee to green. The course played a little tougher. It was kind of swirly out there."

He had a hot putter in the first round and knocked in one Friday from 25 feet (7.5 meters), but his three bogeys all came on three-putts - from 30 feet, 50 feetand 30 feet on numbers 2, 11 and 17.

Six others were tied at 137 - Harrison Frazar with a 68, Dave Stockton and Gary Nicklaus with 69s and Jean Van de Velde, Blaine McCallister and Kenny Perry with 70s.

It took a score of even-par 144 to make the cut, but one player didn't finish his round because of darkness and will play the 18th hole early on Saturday. Jimmy Green stood at 1-under through 35 holes.

Defending champion David Duval put together a 69 for 142.

Nick Price, who was two shots off the lead when the day began, ran into trouble early when he took a 10 on the par-4 number 5, taking two penalty strokes when his ball rolled back off the green into a creek. He shot a 77 and, at 145, missed the cut.

It wasn't a pretty day for Greg Norman, either. He bogeyed his last four holes for a 73 but made the weekend with a 144.

Totals after the second round of the BellSouth Classic at TPC at Sugarloaf, Atlanta, today (US unless stated, par 72):

134 J Sindelar 68 66 135 J Huston 68 67 136 P Stankowski 66 70, P Mickelson 67 69 137 H Frazar 69 68, K Perry 67 70, J Van de Velde (Fra) 67 70, B McCallister 67 70, G Nicklaus 68 69, D Stockton Jnr 68 69 138 S Jones 67 71, B Henninger 68 70 139 B Glasson 70 69, JD Blake 67 72, T Scherrer 68 71, T Pernice 73 66, E Booker 67 72, B Wiebe 71 68, G Hjertstedt (Swe) 68 71, B Jobe 69 70 140 L Mattiace 69 71, C Perry 71 69, S Flesch 73 67, B Cheesman 70 70, K Sutherland 70 70, J Delsing 71 69, F Lickliter 75 65, D Toms 71 69 141 D Peoples 68 73, C Raulerson 70 73, B Geiberger 71 70, C Pavin 72 69, D Pride 73 68, M Springer 70 71, B Tway 73 68, D Sutherland 69 72, T Dodds (Nam) 73 68, D Forsman 69 72, C Barlow 71 70, J Kaye 70 71, B Heintz 72 69 142 J Gallagher Jnr 74 68, W Austin 71 71, L Mize 68 74, S Cink 71 71, S Gump 70 72, MA Jimenez (Spain) 71 71, D Frost (Rsa) 71 71, O Uresti 71 71, D Duval 73 69, F Langham 74 68 143 B Watts 71 72, N Faldo (GB) 72 71, S Murphy 71 72, R Freeman 75 68, J Smith 72 71, C DiMarco 73 70, M Reid 69 74, JM Olazabal (Spa) 71 72, J Kelly 72 71, B Bates 72 71, J Buha 72 71 144 C Paulson 68 76, G Norman (Aus) 71 73, S Verplank 70 74, S McCarron 74 70, Choi KJ (SKor) 74 70, J Durant 73 71, R Beem 71 73, J Leonard 72 72, S Elkington (Aus) 73 71, P Azinger 69 75, B Faxon 71 73, B Burns 70 74, P Blackmar 73 71, J Maxon 70 74, B Gay 73 71