Romero ties Oakland Hills record with 65

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Play was suspended at 2:16 p.m. as a massive front doused the course with rain on Saturday.

By that time Argentina's Andres Romero had already tied the competitive course record at Oakland Hills, making seven birdies while shooting a five-under-par 65. With the best round of the week by two strokes, he moved from a tie for 48th place to a tie for eighth as players waited for the storm to dissipate.

"I played an excellent round, almost perfect," Romero said through an interpreter.

Several pin placements were more accessible than they had been all week, which explains the rash of red numbers Saturday. Camilo Villegas was four under for his first 14 holes, two over total. Fredrik Jacobson, Graeme McDowell and Prayad Marksaeng were three under for the day when play was suspended.

Steve Flesch, who started the day three over par and went off with fellow lefty Phil Mickelson at 1:10 p.m., made two birdies in his first five holes and got to one over. Mickelson was even for the day, three over total, while South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen were in lockstep. Playing in the same group, they were both one under through 13 holes and five over for the tournament.

Romero's 65 was a 13-shot improvement over his 78 on Friday, when much of the damage came on the par-4 16th hole, where the green is guarded by a lake. Romero kept spinning his approach shots back into the water and made a quadruple-bogey 8.

"I played a great first shot, then a perfect 9-iron from 140 yards," he said of his disaster. "It bounced in the front of the green, but like the wind blows just in the moment, and it went down to the water. Then again I had tried to make a good shot, but again a lot of backspin, again into the water. After that I got mad and I played very disconcentrated, not very concentrated the whole rest of the round."

Romero got his revenge on the hole Saturday. He made a birdie 3.

J.B. Holmes has a Web site?

Hungry for information about the midway leader of the 90th PGA Championship? I present you the J.B. Holmes Web site at, of course, jbholmes.com.

Yes, J.B. Holmes is a fine player. Decent fellow. Kills the ball.

But his own site?

We're not talking about Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson or even Ernie Els, on whose site you can learn about Stellenbosch wine. I think a PGA Tour player should have at least five wins or one major to be able to launch his own Web site. Holmes, with two victories, could meet that criteria with two more good days at Oakland Hills.

(Photo by Shamus Gregory/Getty Images)

Video: J.B. Holmes Friday at the 2008 PGA Championship

Here is a quick video interview with J.B. Holmes, the only player who finished under par after two rounds of play at the 2008 PGA Championship. (Video courtesy of Cobra Golf)

The takedown of shiatsu master Jim Weathers

Good hustle by Steve Elling, who earlier this week tracked down Jim Weathers, the shiatsu master who was wrestled to the ground by a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after Weathers began dousing Canadian Open champ Chez Reavie with Champagne last month.

The officer didn't see Weathers's credential. Weathers, who helped nurse Phil Mickelson's injured wrist back to health last year, was more seriously hurt than most observers thought.

From Elling: "The officer grabbed him so violently, Weathers said he began spitting blood and had to visit a doctor at last week's tour stop in Akron, Ohio, for an exam." 

The incident aggravated an old weight-lifting injury, and Weathers says he is facing surgery. Yikes.

(Photo: Doug Ball/AP)