Associated Press
Friday, December 1

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Sergio Garcia kept going lower and lower and watching Davis Love III and Tiger Woods do the same.

	Davis Love III, right, had to direct some media traffic away from the 16th fairway.

Garcia finished Friday's second round of the Williams World Challenge with a course-record 8-under 64, but so did Love and Woods.

"I was watching the leaderboard and they were just making birdie after birdie after birdie and I had to do the same thing," said Garcia, who was at 15-under 129 midway through the tournament, two shots ahead of Love and three in front of Woods.

Garcia had a 65 the first day at Sherwood Country Club, a course record that lasted just 24 hours.

He was a bit amazed at the way he and his two closest pursuers were playing.

"If I have to shoot a 62 or 63 to win, I'll try," Garcia said. "But I'd rather know that I could shoot two 66s."

Woods, who had what is extremely rare for him, an out-of-bounds shot on the second hole on his way to a bogey, was seven shots behind Garcia through the fifth hole, but closed the gap with a 5-under 31 on the back nine.

"If I had made a couple more putts I would really have had it going," said Woods, who had three putts lip out after having five go in-and-out of the cup the first day.

Love had an extremely steady day, with a bogey-free round that included four birdies on the front nine and four more on the back.

"I'm getting a little confidence in my putter," Love said. "I took a few weeks off and feel really relaxed now, and this is a fun tournament."

Garcia began the second round with three consecutive birdies, and finished with seven birdies, an eagle and a bogey.

The 20-year-old Spanish star again was extremely accurate with his irons, and also had some luck. On the par-3, 166-yard 16th hole, a car honked somewhere off in the distance on his backswing, and, distracted, he pushed the ball 20 yards to the right of the green.

But the ball hit the steep slope and bounced at a 90-degree angle, leaving him a 6-foot putt that he made for birdie.

Garcia, who birdied four of his last five holes in the first round, picked up where he left off with birdies on four of his first five Friday on the way to a 31 at the turn.

His eagle came on the par-5, 541-yard 13th, where he sank a 45-foot putt.

Woods' round included an eagle on No. 11, where he made an 18-foot putt, and a 15-foot chip for a birdie on No. 13.

Although Garcia, Love and Woods shot remarkably low scores, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Sherwood Country Club course, a stately oak- and sycamore-lined layout in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, was not playing easy for the rest of the players.

	Tiger Woods's record-setting round was only one-third of the story Friday.

There was an eight-shot gap back to fourth place behind Woods, and five of the 12 players in the select field failed to break par through the first 36 holes.

"This course is not easy, but the fairways are running now and the greens are soft and receptive," Woods said. "You can go at the flag with every shot, and the ball stops right there."

Vijay Singh, one shot behind Garcia beginning the second round, birdied No. 1 to begin the second day, then had an awful run of three holes where he lost a total of five shots to par. He struggled to consecutive double-bogeys on the second and third hole, then bogeyed No. 4 to abruptly go to 2 under and fall eight shots behind Garcia.

Singh, the Masters champion, finished with a 76 and was at 142 -- 13 shots off the lead -- through 36 holes.

Tom Lehman, who won the inaugural Williams World Challenge last January in Scottsdale, Ariz., had his second consecutive 70, and Fred Couples had a 72 as they tied for fourth at 140.

Mark O'Meara was at 143, with Jesper Parnevik at 144, followed by David Duval at 145, Hal Sutton and Justin Leonard at 147, and Stewart Cink at 149.,

The $3.5 million, 72-hole tournament has a $1 million winner's purse and rewards even the last-place finisher with a $120,000 check. The event benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, and Woods will donate his prize money to the foundation.