SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP Watson fires 64 for two-shot lead

He just missed tying the course record as he took the second-round lead.
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- The wind kicked up at the Senior Players Championship on Friday, and most of the scores reflected the harsh weather.
Then there was Tom Watson.
In blustery conditions more apt for a British Open, Watson shot an 8-under 64, one off the course record, to grab the second-round lead at the TPC of Michigan. Watson missed a 3-footer for birdie on 18 that would have tied the record at the Jack Nicklaus-designed course.
His 10-under 134 total in the Champions Tour major was two shots better than Andy North, the two-time U.S. Open champion who had a 69 Friday.
Four others, including first-round leader Gil Morgan, were at 137.
Has been playing well
Watson finished eighth in the Senior Players Championship in 2001 and 18th in 2000. He didn't play last year. He's coming off strong early performances in the past month at the U.S. Open and the U.S. Senior Open.
"When conditions get tough, that's when you can make a statement," said Watson, a five-time British Open champion.
"When you shoot a round like this in the wind, you're going to pass a lot of people."
A string of rainy days leading up to the tournament left the greens soft and the course ripe for scoring Thursday, when Morgan also missed the course record by a shot.
On Friday, the wind gusted between 20 mph and 35 mph for much of the day, making birdies a real feat though the greens remained relatively soft.
Scoring ballooned
The scoring average ballooned from 71.7 on Thursday to just over 74 in the second round. While 22 players posted scores in the 60s in the first round, the second round yielded just five.
"This was a very difficult day for everyone," said Tom Kite, who shot even par Friday and stands alone in seventh, four shots back. "We caught this course in its most benign yesterday, but we knew it was going to fight back."
Watson posted a 5-under 31 on the front nine, an outward trip that included birdie putts from 30 feet on No. 4 and 20 feet on No. 9. On the 7th, a 565-yard par-5, Watson nearly holed a 3-wood from 270 yards, but still managed a two-putt birdie.
Asked if the conditions reminded him at all of a day at the British Open, Watson said: "The wind, yes. But the greens, no. We always get firm greens over there. You rarely ever get greens at the British Open where the ball just stops dead -- unless you're going into a 30 mph wind."
In a deadlock
He and Morgan went to the 16th tied for the lead at 9-under, when a birdie by Watson and a bogey by Morgan created a two-shot swing. The third player in the group, Bruce Fleisher, hit one of the best shots of the day at 16, an extreme-downwind 7-iron from 198 yards that rolled within 3 feet of the hole.
North, who tied for eighth two weeks ago at the U.S. Senior Open, opened Friday's round birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie -- carding his first par at No. 6. He had only one bogey, the par-4 11th, the rest of the day.
"It was a little crazy at first," said North, a television golf analyst. "I was just glad I got through that stretch under par. It was a relief to make a routine par at 6."
Defending champion Stewart Ginn shot 2-under 70 for a two-round total of 143, while Jack Nicklaus, who designed the TPC course in this Detroit suburb, carded a 76 and is 6 over. There is no cut.
The winner will earn $375,000 of the $2.5 million purse.