Tim Herron had to play chiefly of his Friday round in the rain at the PGA Championship.

Tim Herron had to play chiefly of his Friday round in the rain at the PGA Championship. The soggy weather, yet didn't break his concentration.

"[The rain] was beautiful steady out there," Herron said. "Off and forward you didn't really know if you should carry an umbrella or not carry an umbrella or what. It was more tedious than anything else"

from one side it all Herron never made a hobgoblin and he saved his best for last. Finishing with birdies upon Nos. 8 and 9 -- his last pair holes, Herron jumped to the top of the leaderboard at the midway point in the year's last major championship. He's in a four-way tie for the lead with Henrik Stenson Luke Donald and Billy Andrade at 8- under-par 136

Herron's tee ball at the par-3 eighth stopped 8 inches from the portion and he drained a 30-foot uphill birdie at the ninth after watching playing partner KJ Choi attempt a slightly longer along the same line trices earlier. Herron's other birdies in his globular of 67 were from 12 four and five feet

"The bloomings seemed a little more spiked and they were a little soft" Herron said. "The ball wasn't going quite as far, unless you knew you could stick your projectiles because of the rain. You could be maybe just a little more aggressive."

Herron has been struggling with his putting since the Colonial tournament in May. He took the last sum of two units weeks off after a terrible putting experience at the U Bank Championship in Milwaukee, an affair in which he was also paired with Choi.

"I worked 50-60 hours in those sum of two units weeks on my putting," Herron said. "Usually when my putting learns bad it's mechanics, and when my putting gains good I don't think about mechanics. That's probably when my putting achieves poor again. I was hitting down in succession the putts a few weeks ago, and now I'm trying to hit up forward the putts. That releases my shoulders and secures the ball releasing to the concavity With the greens not being quite as fast as they usually are, that's a little easier to do. I'm putting a division better."

Playing late may have been an advantage Friday, despite the rain. Of the top 11 players upon the leaderboard at day's cessation Herron was among eight who had afternoon tee times.

lziehm@suntimes.com

STAT OF THE DAY

11 Number of years it had been since Vijay Singh had missed divide [i]or[/i] sever s in back-to-back majors before he did in this way Friday. Singh failed to make it to the weekend in the 1994 PGA Championship and '95 Masters, then played 45 straight majors without missing more than single cut in a row.

make progress U NORTHWESTERN

He may be a Brit by the agency of birth, but Luke Donald is feeling sufficiency of hometown love from the galleries this week. Northwestern coach Pat Gos walked all 18 openings with Donald on Friday and said, "There were a fate of 'Looooookes' out there."

"A hazard of people know that I played at Northwestern," said Donald, who still maintains a residence in Evanston, "and I hear with equal reason many 'Go Northwestern' and 'Go Wildcats.' There is a apportionment of home support for me"

WORKING OVERTIME

CB announcer Jim Nantz twitched double duty Friday, spending a shorter-than-normal stint in the 18th-hole booth during the TNT broadcast of the PGA Champion-ship, then scurrying facing to Soldier Field to call the Bears-Chargers preseason game.

He could have carpooled with Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer, who was in the gallery following San Diego native Phil Mickelson for a hardly any holes.

"You think you ne to catch a ride with him tonight?" Nantz's broadcast partner Lanny Wadkins quipped forward the air. "I doubt you have a real good parking pass."

Among other celebrities upon the premises were noted Tiger groves fan Ernie Banks -- who has been a fixture at Medinah all week -- and former Bears quarterback Bobby Douglass.

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