Annika fires 70 for lead

Annika Sorenstam leads Meg Mallon and Rosie Jones after two rounds.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Defending champion Annika Sorenstam scrambled to stay in front, shooting a 2-under 70 on Saturday in the second round of the Office Depot Championship.
Sorenstam, who also won the event in 2001 and finished a stroke behind winner Se Ri Pak in 2002, is two shots in front of Meg Mallon and Rosie Jones.
Sorenstam was at 4-under 138 in the 54-hole tournament.
Mallon had a 71, and Jones shot her second straight 70 at El Caballero Country Club, with the course again not yielding many low scores.
Sorenstam has been difficult to catch when she takes a lead into the final round, winning 33 of the 52 times she previously was in front beginning the last 18 holes.
If she wins, it would be her 50th career LPGA Tour victory, and also mark the seventh time she's gone wire-to-wire to win.
Kim in contention
Mi-Hyun Kim, beaten by Sorenstam in a playoff for the title three years ago at Wilshire Country Club, was in contention again with a 71 that left her five shots off the lead.
Pak, who finished in a three-way tie for second last year, had a second-round 70 and was at 144.
Sorenstam's shots on the 17th seem to reflect her up-and-down round: a poor shot here, a scrambling shot there and then a fine shot within a foot of the hole.
She pulled her drive into trees on the left, had to hit her second shot from a cramped stance up against a tree, and still was able to punch the ball 150 yards and curve it up the fairway.
Still 102 yards out, the Swedish star hit a wedge shot that landed several feet below the pin, bounced once just beyond the cup, and the backspin brought the ball backward where it rimmed the hole and stopped a foot away.
Sorenstam grinned, shook her head and made a swirling motion with her hand, mimicking the way the ball went spinning around the rim.
Birdie time
She went on to tap in for a birdie on the par-5, 463-yard hole to reach 7 under. She played No. 18 in similar fashion, but without the good recovery and ended up with a bogey. Her drive strayed to the right, she had to punch out into the fairway again, hit her approach to within 15 feet of the hole and two-putted to finish the 400-yard par 4.
Jones also had a roller-coaster round, taking a double bogey on the par-4, 383-yard third hole. She drove into the rough, hit her approach shot into a bunker, left her next shot short, pitched then two-putted.
She had a two-shot swing go her way on No. 15, when her 9-iron shot from 126 yards out bounced into the hole for an eagle.
Karrie Webb couldn't overcome an opening 81 and failed to make the cut despite her second-round 72. Laura Diaz shot a 71, but also missed the cut because she had an 82 the first day.
PGA Tour
DULUTH, Ga. -- Zach Johnson's first full day as the leader on the PGA Tour felt very familiar to him.
He played solidly, made putts when he needed to, and held on to the top spot.
"I really didn't get nervous," Johnson said. "It doesn't feel that different. It's just golf."
The rookie shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to take a three-stroke lead over Padraig Harrington and Scott Hend after the third round of the BellSouth Classic.
Harrington rallies
Harrington shot a 67, rallying after a triple bogey by making six birdies on his last 10 holes in the last event before the Masters. Coming off a second-place finish in The Players Championship last week -- his second straight runner-up finish in that tournament -- the Irish star is looking for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
"It would be important to win on the U.S. tour," Harrington said. "I'm not putting pressure on myself to do it [here] or anything like that. We'll wait and see how it goes."
After leading the developmental Nationwide Tour in earnings in 2003, Johnson is off to a solid start this season. He has made four of six cuts and $335,031 -- good for 58th on the money list -- and he's coming off a tie for sixth at Bay Hill in his previous start.