Rose builds lead at Torrey Pines

Justin Rose was looking forward to his first big test of the year Friday on the South Course at Torrey Pines. He made it look like a breeze.

Rose putted for birdie on all but two holes on his way to a 6-under 66, giving him a share of the 36-hole tournament record and a three-shot lead over Hideki Matsuyama going into the weekend at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.

In more ideal conditions, Rose made his only bogey of the week by coming up short of the green on the seventh hole and missing a 12-foot putt. He also had to chop out of heavy grass on the toughest hole at Torrey, the 514-yard 12th hole, and hit a 45-yard pitch to 2 feet to save par.

Throw in seven birdies and he was at 15-under 129, a tournament record last matched by Tom Lehman in 2005.

Only four other players were within five shots, none of them named Tiger Woods.

In his 2019 debut, on a course where Woods has won eight times, he again failed to convert on the greens and made double bogey from the fairway at the turn. He shot another 70 on the North, which was about two shots easier than the South, and was 11 shots behind.

“I’m going to have to play a very special weekend to have a chance,” Woods said. “I’m pretty far back, and the South course, it’s tough.”

This is the 20-year anniversary of Woods coming from nine shots behind after 36 holes with a 62-65 weekend to win. But the South course was 600 yards shorter back then, and the 36-hole leader in 1999 was Ted Tryba. Now it’s Rose, the No. 1 player in the world looking as though he might stay there for a while.

“He’s absolutely flagging it and swinging it really well,” said Billy Horschel, who played with Rose and Jordan Spieth the last two days. “He’s taken it to a different level with his ball striking. The way he’s rolling the putts now, he’s become like a complete player.”

EUROPEAN TOUR: Twenty-five years after winning for the first time at the Dubai Desert Classic in United Arab Emirates, Ernie Els is having another run at the title. The Big Easy, however, will have to overhaul a player almost half his age to get back in the winner’s circle. The 49-year-old Els made seven birdies and an eagle in a 7-under 65 to move within a stroke of the lead after two rounds of an event he has won three times, first in 1994. That was the first of his 28 European Tour titles. One of the two players above him on the leaderboard is Bryson Dechambeau, who shot a second straight 66 and shared the lead with Lucas Herbert at 12-under 132 at Emirates Golf Club.