BUICK INVITATIONAL Singh misses cut while Stewart Cink seizes lead

Singh had finished in the top 10 in his last 12 tournaments.
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- With most of the focus on whether the biggest stars would make the cut, Stewart Cink kept making birdies and wound up with a 9-under 63 to take a two-shot lead Friday in the Buick Invitational.
Cink now faces two rounds on the South course at Torrey Pines, which already reminds him of a major championship, with plenty of players -- including defending champion Tiger Woods -- very much in the mix.
Vijay Singh isn't among them.
He headed for the airport, not the practice range, after missing three straight birdie putts from 15 feet to shoot 73 and miss the cut by one shot, an abrupt end to his streak of 12 consecutive top 10s.
"I'll probably start a streak next week," Singh said.
Phil Mickelson nearly joined him, although he only lives about 20 miles away. Mickelson, a three-time winner at the Buick Invitational, had to birdie the last two holes for a 69 to make the cut on the number at 1 under par.
Staying alive
Woods, who started with a spectacular 3-iron out of the trees that landed 2 feet from the cup, suddenly found himself around the cut line, too, after making three bogeys during a sloppy four-hole stretch on the easy North course.
He finished with five birdies on his final 11 holes for a 68, and was six shots behind Cink.
Woods narrowly made the cut in 1999 at Torrey Pines, shot 62-65 on the weekend and won by two. Mickelson is capable of a similar charge, so it should make for an interesting weekend.
And while Cink was at 11-under 133, his first 36-hole lead since the MCI Heritage last year, he'll be playing in the final group Saturday with Steve Flesch and a real crowd-pleaser: John Daly.
Daly, winless on the PGA Tour since the '95 British Open at St. Andrews, had a bogey-free 66 on the South -- the best score of the week on the course that will host the 2008 U.S. Open -- and was two off the lead.
"He makes the game exciting," Flesch said.
Cink didn't draw much of a gallery -- certainly not the crowd following Woods, Mickelson and Daly -- but his golf was worth watching on a cool day along the cliffside course.
He kept hitting it within 12 feet, sometimes closer, until the par-5 18th. His chip from behind the green rolled down a ridge and almost off the green, resting against the fringe. He poured that one in for birdie, then covered his face with a cap, knowing he'd gotten away with one.
"That was the hardest putt I faced all day -- a two-putt, much less to knock it in," Cink said. "I stole one there. There's guys out here that steal things like that all the time, so I'm not going to be embarrassed about that."
Champions Tour
NAPLES, Fla. -- Gary Koch shot a tournament-record 62 to take a three-shot lead after the first round of The ACE Group Classic on Friday.
Koch, who finished at 10-under-par, holed out a 50-foot bunker shot for eagle on No. 17 and nearly made a 20-footer for birdie on the final hole.
Tour rookie Lonnie Nielsen shot 8-under 28 on the back nine to finish two shots back at 64. Hale Irwin, who has won this event twice, and Larry Nelson are three shots back. Two-time champion Gil Morgan is in a group of five players at 6-under.