B4 Saturday-Sunday, May 12-13, 2012 | SPORTS | www.kentuckynewera.com

GOLF nNASCAR n

BY PETE IACOBELLI

AP SPORTS WRITER

DARLINGTON, S.C. —Sprint Cup points leaderGreg Biffle feels he’s run-ning like he used to at Dar-lington Raceway and that’sbad news for the rest of theSouthern 500 field.

Biffle earned his secondpole at Darlington and the11th of his career with a fastlap of 180.257 mph Friday tosqueeze past the HendrickMotorsports duo of JimmieJohnson and Kasey Kahne.

“I said it three times, I’m hav-ing such a great time drivingthese race cars,” Biffle said.“This is what a racecar driverlooks forward to in showing upevery weekend and having afast car to drive. They’re suremaking my life easy.”

Ryan Newman starts fourthfollowed by Kyle Busch, Mar-tin Truex Jr., Carl Edwardsand Denny Hamlin, a winnerat Pheonix and Kansas thisyear. Regan Smith, the 2011Darlington winner, was ninthand Jeff Burton qualifying10th. Danica Patrick will start38th for her second-everSprint Cup event. She wasguaranteed a spot in tonight’srace because of the No. 10car’s points standing.

For a long time Friday, itlooked like an all-Hendrickfront row after Kahne had ahot lap of 179.556 mph andteammate Johnson matchedhim a short time later.

That’s when Biffle took tothe track for his pole-win-ning performance.

“It was a pretty uneventfullap,” Biffle said. “The car’s gota ton of grip. It stuck to therace track really, really well.”

And it’s got Biffle thinkinghe’s got the stuff to continuehis strong start: “I feel thatspecial season already. I cer-tainly think that we’re goingto be tough in competition allyear,” he said.

Biffle was a Darlingtonmaster since first runninghere in 2003. He won in 2005and 2006 after the track’sschedule was cut to one raceand the date moved toMother’s Day weekend. Bif-fle’s finished in the top 15 orbetter in eight of his 11Sprint Cup races here.

Still, Biffle was uneasy com-ing to Darlington this week.For all his success, Biffle’s carwasn’t what he felt it should bethe past four races. He was43rd in 2008, then 22nd heretwo years later.

“The car just wasn’t in therace track,” he said. “I knewwhat I needed to do different.”

Johnson will start next toBiffle based on owner’spoints. Johnson and Kahnegive the Hendrick team astrong chance to win thatelusive 200th career SprintCup event. It has been 16races since Johnson’s vic-tory at Kansas last Octoberbrought Hendrick Motor-sports its 199th win.

Biffle ruins Hendrickfront row at Darlington

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Greg Biffle heads down the front stretch during practice for the NASCARSprint Cup Series auto race Friday at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C.

Johnson takes lead at TPCas McIlroy heads home

BY DOUG FERGUSON

AP GOLF WRITER

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — After breaking 70for the first time in seven weeks, Tiger Woods headedto the back of the practice range at the TPC Sawgrassto fine-tune his swing. That was much better thangoing to the clubhouse to clean out his locker.

The Players Championship featured Matt Kuchar,Zach John and Kevin Na atop the leaderboard Friday.

What it lacked was some of the golf ’s biggest names.Rory McIlroy stumbled to a 76 and became the first

player at No. 1 in the world ranking to miss the cut atSawgrass since Greg Norman in 1996. Steve Strickerhad made a PGA Tour-leading 49 cuts in a row untilhe shot 74 and ended a streak that began in August2009. And with 11 holes left in his round, Woods wastwo shots over the cut line and in jeopardy of missingback-to-back cuts for the first time in his career.

The thought never crossed his mind.Instead, he blistered a 5-wood into the breeze on the

eighth hole — the toughest par 3 on the course — andwatched it catch a slope on the edge of the green androll 8 feet away from the cup. That was the first of fourstraight birdies for Woods, who wound up with a 68.

He said he was only thinking about a 66 to get mo-mentum going into the weekend, and he missed by two.

“I was trying to shoot my number today,” Woodssaid. “Sixty-six was my number today. I figured thatwould have been a good way to go into the weekend,being probably four or five back. But I’m still with agood chance.”

Everyone has a chance going into the weekend, in-cluding Woods and Phil Mickelson, the Hall of Fame’snewest member. They were six shots behind. But theyare chasing the gang from Sea Island — home ofKuchar and Johnson, along with PGA Tour rookieHarris English, who was one shot out of the lead.

Johnson made five birdies on the back nine until abogey on the 18th hole, though he matched the bestscore of the second round with a 66. Kuchar, whomade a strong run at the Masters last month, playedbogey-free over his last 13 holes for a 68. Na startedthe back nine with three straight birdies for a 69.

“It’s fun to be back in position with a chance to winagain,” Kuchar said.

They were at 8-under 136, meaning only eight shotsseparate first from worst going into the final 36 holeson a most unpredictable Stadium Course. The top 14players on the leaderboard were separated by onlythree strokes.

English birdied the 17th and 18th for a 67, while thegroup at 6-under 138 included past champion AdamScott (70).

McIlroy, who only last week lost in a three-wayplayoff at Quail Hollow, opened with a birdie and did-n’t make another one the rest of the day. He missedthe cut for the first time in more than a year, thoughit wasn’t unusual at the TPC Sawgrass. In three ap-pearances at The Players Championship, McIlroy

has never broken par or made the cut.“Hopefully, I’m coming back here for another 20

years,” McIlroy said. “If I don’t figure it out on my20th, there’s something wrong.”

Woods followed his birdie at No. 8 with an iron overthe trees and into a bunker, only about 10 feet frombeing perfect. He still made birdie, along with a 5-footer on the 10th and a two-putt birdie from thefringe on No. 11.

“I hit a good shot there at 8 and made the putt, andfrom there I really hit some good shots,” Woods said.“I probably could have gotten one or two more out ofit. But I really played well today. I was just very con-sistent, and nothing spectacular, just real solid golf.”

Martin Laird was solid for 33 holes and was the onlyplayer to reach double digits under par for the week.He was at 10 under with three holes to play when helost four shots on the last three holes. His hopes foreagle turned into bogey with a 4-iron into the water onthe 16th, and he dunked one on No. 17 for double bogey.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Zach Johnson chips onto the seventh green during the secondround of the Players Championship golf tournament Friday at TPCSawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.