Golf | Nick Watney leads, Ryan Moore is tied for 7th in FBR

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Phil Mickelson tied for 121st place.

Nick Watney was alone at the top of the leaderboard.

On a day local favorite Mickelson missed the projected cut by seven strokes, Watney shot an 8-under-par 63 to take the second-round lead Friday at the FBR Open. Play was called because of darkness with three players, all inside the projected cut line, on the course.

At 9 under through two rounds, Watney had a one-stroke lead over Charley Hoffman (68), Matt Kuchar (67) and first-round co-leader James Nitties (69). Kenny Perry (63) and Cameron Beckman (67) were two back.

Ryan Moore (67) of Puyallup was tied for seventh at 6 under with Scott Piercy (67) and Brian Gay (68).

Kirk Triplett (70), a graduate of Pullman High School, was at 2 under. Players who were not over par for 36 holes were expected to make the cut.

Seattle native Fred Couples (74) was tied for 115th place at 6 over.

Ex-Arizona State standout Mickelson (73), who is ranked fourth in the world, was at 7 over. He has missed the cut in the event twice in the last three years.

"I feel I hit the ball fairly solid," he said. "I just made some errors here and there."

The FBR Open draws the Tour's biggest crowds. But attendance has dipped each day compared with last year, when the tournament drew a record 538,356. On Friday, 111,013 attended, down about 9,000 from the second-round crowd a year ago.

Notes

• The PGA Tour sued Ginn Development, citing breach of contract after the resort company dropped sponsorship of the Champions Tour Ginn Championship.

Ginn announced earlier this week it was ending all golf sponsorships immediately, including the Champions Tour event and the LPGA Tour's Ginn Open. Ginn had three years remaining on its title-sponsorship contract with the 50-and-older Champions Tour.

"We regret having to take this legal action, but feel we have no other recourse than to try to recover what had been guaranteed to our members through existing agreements with Ginn Companies," PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw said in a statement.

• Sweden's Henrik Stenson shot a 7-under 65 to lead by one shot in the second round of the Dubai Desert Classic. Stenson played 25 holes Friday because of fog delays during the opening round. He was at 11-under 133. Australia's Richard Green (63) was in second. Seventy-two players did not finish the second round.