GOLF DIGEST/US TOUR: American Dudley Hart fired a second-round 66 to grab the early clubhouse lead in the Honda Classic in Florida last night.
His four-under-par round left him on six under overall, one shot clear of John Mallinger, who added a three-under 67 over the Champion Course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens.
Overnight leaders Luke Donald and Brian Davis were having mixed fortunes in the second round. Davis was four under par for 11 holes and nine under overall and top of the leaderboard.
But Donald had dropped back to two over after incurring a quadruple bogey eight at the 14th, his fifth hole.
Meanwhile, Tiger Woods says it's unrealistic to project his unbeaten start to 2008 into a perfect season.
Woods has won six straight events and eight of his past nine dating back to last season. He isn't likely to return to the course until next month at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill tournament in Orlando, Florida. When he does, he said, he'll be trying to continue his winning streak as far as it can run.
"I have been asked whether I think I can go undefeated this year," Woods said in a monthly newsletter on his website. "Is it realistic? No. But why would you go to a tournament if you don't think you can win? That's my expectation of myself."
"For a while now I've said my game has improved since 2000," he said. "It's something I've been saying internally and until recently, no one picked up on it."
LPGA TOUR:Mexico's world number one Lorena Ochoa stretched her lead to a remarkable seven shots after a second-round 65 in the Women's Champions in Singapore yesterday.
On 13-under-par 131, the 26-year-old British Open champion soared ahead of a trio tied for second on six under: Annika Sorenstam (67), In-Kyung Kim (68) and Paula Creamer (71).
AMATEUR: Ireland's Paul Cutler will face Johann López Lázaro of France in the quarter-finals of the Spanish Amateur Championship in Girona today, writes Brian Keogh.
The 19-year-old Portstewart player, who beat Rory McIlroy en route to a place in last year's West of Ireland final at Rosses Point, defeated England's Billy Henstock at the 19th in the first round, before cruising to a 5 and 4 victory over Austria's Hans Peter Bacher at tree-lined Pals course in northeastern Catalonia.
But it was a disappointing day for the rest of the Irish as Simon Ward and Shane Lowry bowed out of the race for the prestigious King's Cup in the first round.
County Louth man Ward was beaten 3 and 2 by Spanish hope Pedro Oriol, while Lowry, who tied for seventh after two rounds of strokeplay qualifying, lost 2 and 1 to England's Dale Whitnell.
Cutler is on course for a semi-final showdown with England's Danny Willett, who was a revelation in the Britain and Ireland Walker Cup side that lost to the US at Royal County Down last September.
If Cutler goes on to win the title, he will join fellow Ulsterman Darren Clarke (1990) on a list of champions that also includes José María Olazábal (1983, 1984), Sergio García (1998) and Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño (2003).
