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Friday, July 28

SILVIS, Ill. -- Where is Frost hot? At the new TPC at Deere Run.

David Frost shot a blistering 9-under 62 Friday to build a three-stroke lead after the second round of the $2.6 million John Deere Classic.

	Frost birdied four straight holes on two occassions Friday.

Frost, 40, has not been playing well anywhere, missing 12 of 17 cuts entering the week and extending a winless drought that dates to the 1997 Colonial. But he torched the new 7,183-yard layout, rolling in nine birdies during a bogey-free round that took place under steamy conditions.

"I think you have to just take it one step at a time, two rounds of golf," said Frost, a two-time John Deere champion who has 10 PGA Tour titles and 22 worldwide. "Surely we've played two, but there are two left."

At 15-under 127, Frost is three strokes better than Tim Herron, who carded his second straight 65. Bill Glasson and first-round leader Paul Curry are tied for third at 10-under 132.

Kirk Triplett, Frank Lickliter, NCAA champion Charles Howell, Dan Pohl, Bob Gilder, Curt Byrum and Jerry Kelly are tied for fifth at 133.

Grant Waite, Shawn Micheel and Steve Gotsche are at 134, a stroke better than another dozen, including course designer D.A. Weibring, an Illinois native and three-time Deere champion who fired a 66.

John Daly, who raised eyebrows by shooting a 68 on Thursday, ballooned to a second-round 80 and missed the cut of 3-under 139.

Frost opened his round this morning on the back nine and shook off surprisingly hot conditions and a mediocre start to post his best 18 holes in 10 years.

"It was a little hot, hotter at 7:30 than I thought it should be," said Frost, who shot a 60 during the second round of the 1990 Tucson Open.

Frost birdied four consecutive holes, from Nos. 16-1, to reach 11-under and four more in a row from the fourth to the seventh to build a three-stroke advantage on the friendly course.

The TPC at Deere Run produced 100 scores under par on Thursday and 104 on Friday.

"Surely the golf course is young," Frost said. "But the only reason the scores are low is because the greens are soft, and you couldn't make the greens any harder because they're so young."

He was consistent all day with his iron game, setting up four birdie putts of 12 feet, two of 10 and one from four. He also dropped in a 30-footer after an errant 6-iron at the fifth hole and tapped in from a foot after a sand wedge at the sixth.

Frost's round could have been even better but he missed a two-foot birdie putt at the second hole and lipped out a 10-footer at No. 8.

"I could have missed one or two of the ones that I made, but made one or two of the ones that I missed," he said. "So at the end of the day, I think there was a fair sort of my round."

Frost, who practiced hard before tying for 55th last week at the British Open, isn't putting pressure on himself to get back to the winner's circle.

"I think it's important to set goals but then forget about that and carry on with your business," he said. "And then at the end of the day, then you can evaluate it again where you went wrong."

Herron played the first five holes in 5-under, rolling in a 35-foot putt for eagle at the 561-yard second. The man known as "Lumpy" played the last eight holes in 3-under to put himself in the final pairing Saturday.

"I'm just trying to shoot as low as I can," said Herron, whose last of three PGA Tour titles came at the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational. "I'm not playing against anyone besides the golf course, you know what I mean?"