Golf: No-show ends return hope

Rampant speculation Tiger Woods would make his golf comeback at the Match Play Championship ended quietly yesterday when the PGA Tour released its 64-man field minus the world's No 1 player.

Woods did not meet the deadline for entering next week's championships in Arizona, the tournament where he made his comeback a year ago from knee surgery.

Woods announced December 11 he was stepping away from golf as he tries to salvage his marriage after confessing to infidelity. He has not been heard from since then and simply didn't enter by the 5pm cutoff for the world Match Play Championships.

Phil Mickelson already said he would skip next week to take a family vacation that had been postponed because of his wife's treatment for breast cancer. That makes Steve Stricker the No 1 seed for the tournament at Dove Mountain near Tucson.

It will be only the second time Woods has missed the Match Play Championship, which he has won three times. He was among several top players who did not compete in Australia in 2001.

"It will take away quite a lot from Monday and Tuesday," Padraig Harrington said. "But there will be a worthy winner. All the matches will create new things to talk about."Defending champion Dustin Johnson held onto a share of the lead after the second round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am yesterday.

Overnight leader Johnson shot a two-under 68 at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club's Shore Course to finish 10-under (132) with a clutch of players after two rounds.

The American was joined by compatriots Bryce Molder, Paul Goydos and JB Holmes, as well as Germany's Alex Cejka and Matt Jones of Australia.

Former world No 1 David Duval is a stroke behind the leaders after shooting a 68 at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Johnson took the outright lead after a birdie on the 13th, but dropped a stroke on the 17th to fall back into the pack, his only blemish in an otherwise flawless round.

Jones, the only one of the leaders to play his round at Pebble Beach, notched eight birdies in his five-under 67, but rued a run of three consecutive bogeys.

Goydos, who played the Spyglass Hill course, considered the toughest of the tournament's three courses, posted a seven-under 65 for the best round among the leaders, his first sub-70 round at the course in 14 appearances at the event.

The American has been named an assistant Ryder Cup captain by Corey Pavin, and will hope for a strong finish to achieve his goal of breaking into the team.Briton Barry Lane rolled back the years in spectacular fashion yesterday to take a share of the lead after the weather-hit second round of the Avantha Masters.

The 49-year-old Lane fired a five-under-par 67 for a 10-under 134 total on a day when almost half the field, including overnight leader Marcel Siem of Germany, could not complete the round due a hailstorm.

Chan Yih-shin of Taiwan and Briton John Parry were also in joint first place on 10-under-par but will complete the final hole of the second round before starting out the third.

Singapore's Lam Chih Bing added a 68 to his opening round 67 to share the fourth place along with Briton David Drysdale and Australians Andrew Dodt and Darren Beck on nine-under.

New Zealanders Danny Lee and Mark Brown will both miss the cut after completing their second round. Lee improved 25 places to 79th on one-over after shooting 72 yesterday while Brown slid to 92nd on two-over after his 73.

- AGENCIES