Calcavecchia takes charge with a putting exhibition

Mark Calcavecchia, who completed a course-record 10under par 62 in the morning, fired an afternoon 67 to take a sevenstroke lead in Braselton, Georgia. Calcavecchia played the final 10 holes of the first round at eightunder after rain and darkness ended play on Thursday with half of the field of 108 still on the course.

Darkness halted play again yesterday with 54 players on the course. Round two was set to be completed this morning.

The American finished two rounds at 15-under-par 129 to lead Peter O'Malley by seven and former US Open champion Steve Jones by eight. Jones had a 68 yesterday. O'Malley fired a 66.

"It was a lot of fun today," said Calcavecchia, who finished 14th on the PGA Tour money list this season with $1,117,365 in 27 events. "A day like today, you want to keep going and play as many holes as possible."

Calcavecchia's lone win this year came at the Greater Vancouver Open but he shared fourth last week at the Tour Championship and hopes to add a $360,000 prize from this $2 million event.

Calcavecchia started on the back nine and continued shredding the Legends course with birdies on his first two holes, including a 45-footer on the 11th.

He rolled home a 15-foot putt on the 13th hole and chipped to six inches for a birdie on the parfive 14th.

"I did everything pretty well today," Calcavecchia said. "I kept making 20-footers every third hole or so. My goal is to stay aggressive - hit a good drive, a good iron shot and a good putt. It's irrelevant whether I win by 10 or by one, I just want to win the tournament."

Padraig Harrington, who was playing with Calcavecchia, did his best to stay in touch with a 72 for a three under total of 141.

Paul McGinley, Ireland's other representative in the tournament, was one of those who managed to complete his first round on Thursday, finishing with a level par 72.

"That was incredible to see Mark playing the way he did because he just kept holing everything," said Harrington just prior to starting his second round. "Fortunately, he sort of pulled me along a bit, and I'm looking forward to going right out on the course again now.

"Yesterday my concentration was really poor and my focus wasn't that good, particularly knowing that I was not going to complete my round. But that wasn't the case today.

"The course is in great shape despite all the rain so there's plenty of opportunity out there," Harrington said.

The Dubliner started his second round in fine style, with birdies at the second and third holes to grab a share of third place, at fiveunder. But a bogey at the fourth and ninth saw him drop back. Four straight pars had Harrington still at three-under with five to play. Harrington finished on level par for the round.