Fri Apr 25 21:01:56 2008

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Scott leads Byron Nelson by one

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Irving, TX (Sports Network) - Adam Scott carded a three-under 69 Friday to move to the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes of the Byron Nelson Championship.

Scott completed two rounds at five-under-par 135. This is his eighth 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour. He has gone on to win four of those events, including the unofficial, rain-shortened 2005 Nissan Open.

Scott McCarron fired a four-under 66 to move into a share of second place at minus-four. He stands alongside first-round, co-leader Mathew Goggin and Mark Hensby. Goggin shared the lead after the first round with Ryan Moore and Eric Axley.

The Australian Scott got off to a flying start from the 10th at the TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas.

He rolled in a 12-foot birdie putt at 10 to open his round and he followed that with a kick-in birdie on 11.

Scott dropped a wedge 15 feet from the hole at 12 and poured that putt in for his third straight birdie. He wasn't done either as he drained a 25-foot birdie effort on 13 to grab the lead at six-under.

The 27-year-old tripped to bogey on the par-four 14th. Scott ran off seven straight pars around the turn.

Scott sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the fourth to recover that lost stroke. He stumbled to another bogey on the eighth to finish at minus-five.

"It was a fast start, which was very handy, this morning," Scott stated. "But after that it was a bit of a battle, a fair bit of scrambling going on. The conditions were tricky. It was hard to hit fairways and hard to hit greens, hard to hit it close. Getting off to a quick start certainly set me up for a nice round anyway."

McCarron, who is still battling back from elbow surgery he had in 2006, carded a bogey-free round. His birdies came at two, seven, 14 and 18.

"I love what they've done with the golf course, redoing it," said McCarron of the re-designed TPC. "They've made it very, very difficult, especially with the winds yesterday and today. I thought it played very, very tough, a lot of crosswinds."

Goggin opened with a birdie on the second, but gave that stroke right back with a bogey at three. He tumbled to minus-one after a double-bogey on the par-four ninth.

Around the turn, Goggin quickly got two of those shots back with birdies on 10 and 11. He moved into a share of second when he birdied the 16th, but he could only par the last two to end one back.

Hensby played the back nine first and dropped shots on 10 and 12 to fall to plus-one. He got one of those strokes back with a birdie on 13.

The Australian moved back into red figures with a birdie on the first. Hensby birdied three of his last six holes to end at minus-four.

"I made a few bogeys early, but wasn't too distracted by them because they were pretty mediocre bogeys," admitted Hensby. "But I'm playing pretty good and kind of kept on pace and made some birdies on the front nine."

Moore posted an even-par 70 and is tied for fifth at three-under-par 137. He was joined there by Justin Leonard, Parker McLachlin, Charley Hoffman and Roland Thatcher.

Frank Lickliter, Jesper Parnevik, Kevin Sutherland, Bart Bryant and Kevin Na are one stroke back at minus-two.

The cut line fell at three-over-par 143 with 76 players moving on to the weekend. Chris DiMarco, Sean O'Hair, Rich Beem, Rory Sabbatini and Chad Campbell are among those who missed the cut.