Herron Seeking to Win Consecutive Tourneys

Friday, May 26th 2006, 9:52 pm

By: News On 6

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) _ Tim Herron wants to see if he can keep a good thing going two weeks in a row. Herron won his fourth PGA Tour title last week at Colonial but has yet to win consecutive tournaments in his career. He put himself in a good position Friday by shooting a 5-under 65 that left him two strokes behind Darron Stiles after two rounds of the St. Jude Classic.

``I never was able to do that after my first three wins, and I made a point to myself if I win again, I'm not going to take it for granted. I'm going to keep trying to play well,'' Herron said.

``I know how this game is. When it's bad, it's bad. When it's good, it's good. You might as well keep it as good as long as you can.''

Stiles finished a 64-133, putting him ahead of Herron, Tom Pernice (68) and first-round leader Chris Smith (71) at 135. David Toms (67), Brian Gay (67) and Camilo Villegas (66) were at 136.

If Herron manages to pull out a victory here, it will be impressive.

He won a playoff at Colonial then went home to Minnesota on Monday where friends and family threw him a celebration party. He and his wife flew to Memphis on Tuesday for an annual party with players for children from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital staying at Target House.

``Once you get down there ..., it's sad. But on the other hand, to see the smile on the kids' faces is awesome,'' Herron said.

He played in the pro-am on Wednesday and struggled with some errant shots Thursday on his way to an even-par 70.

``The most rest I got was (Thursday) night,'' Herron said.

The rest helped, and Herron started Friday with birdies on his first three holes. He finished with seven birdies and two bogeys on a day when 20-mph winds played havoc on the TPC at Southwind course with dry fairways and hard greens, and no one survived the day without at least one bogey.

``It's playing great,'' said Herron, who has not missed a cut in 10 appearances here. ``We don't play these type of golf courses much anymore. It's playing like Colonial _ a little bit hard and fast. The ball's running.''

The pressure was on Stiles, who turned in eight birdies with a double-bogey for only his second lead on the PGA Tour and his first by himself. He shared the first-round lead here in 2003 with Jay Haas and Richard Johnson.

Stiles has been playing in the wind for the past month and fared well, winning a Nationwide Tour event in Arkansas two weeks ago.

``I used to not like playing in a lot of wind. I think I've toned down enough mentally and gotten a lot smarter to play the right shot,'' he said.

Only Stiles and Pernice got as low as 7 under, but Stiles was the only one who got there twice and stayed there using his putter to hole five birdies from 12 feet or longer.

Stiles birdied five of his first seven holes to grab a share of the lead with Smith at 6 under, and he birdied his 10th hole, the par-4 No. 1 with a 12-footer. He double-bogeyed the par-4 No. 5 by trying to loft his tee shot with some help from the wind only to hit some trees, and he three-putted from 20 feet.

He rebounded with birdies on Nos. 6 and 9, the last after he hit a pitching wedge from 123 yards out to 4 feet of the hole to get back to 7 under.

Pernice ruined a strong start with four birdies in his first eight holes with a double-bogey and three bogeys before rebounding with an eagle and a birdie down the stretch.

Herron matched the 65 he shot in the second round last week at Colonial. He might have gone lower if not for a drive out of bounds left on the par-4 No. 12 as he tried to avoid the lake on the right for bogey. He rallied with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17, the last a 40-footer from behind the hole.

``I hit a 3-iron off 18 today, which I haven't done in years here. Usually we just don't get the wind,'' Herron said.