HUMBLE, Texas (AP) -- Stuart Appleby says the new Tournament Course at Redstone is easy. Or maybe he's just playing well enough to make it that way.
Appleby had a one-stroke lead over Greg Owen after two rounds at the Shell Houston Open. Appleby had five birdies through 16 holes Friday before the rain-delayed second round was suspended by darkness. He made two pars Saturday morning to finish with a 67.
Appleby hit 11 of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens in regulation in his second round.
"You put it in the fairway, the game becomes a lot easier," said Appleby, who won in Houston in 1999. "I drove it well, putted pretty good. Nothing fancy. Just good, solid golf."
Appleby was one of 44 players who returned to the course early Saturday to finish their second rounds. A predawn storm on Friday dumped five-eighths of an inch of rain, delaying the start of the second round 21/2 hours.
Owen teed off late in the afternoon and birdied five of his last seven holes for a 65, the lowest score of the tournament. A month ago, a three-putt from 3 feet cost Owen a chance to win at Bay Hill. Owen talked to noted sports psychologist Bob Rotella shortly after the gaffe.
Rotella's advice?
"Concentrate on everything you did right," Owen said. "The majority of the things were all positive."
The 34-year-old Englishman had plenty of those on Friday, too. He made a 3-foot birdie putt on 13, holed a bunker shot on the par-3 14th and finished the round with a bending 20-footer on the difficult 18th.
"I'm just trying to have a good time and I'm playing pretty well, which helps," Owen said. "Just trying to see the good shots more than the bad shots."
Owen said the mistake at Bay Hill was a simple "mental error" and hasn't lingered long in his mind. He saw no reason to make any major adjustments to his game.
"Some things happen in other weeks and you finish 20th," he said, "and (then) you feel like you're doing the same thing and you go and win a tournament. It just doesn't make sense. Not a lot in golf does, does it?"
South Africa's Trevor Immelman was 8 under after a 67.
The 26-year-old Immelman has missed the cut in his last four starts, but said his results don't reflect how well he's played.
"I would say frustration sums the whole thing up because I really felt like the whole year I've hit the ball quite well," he said.
Tour rookie Charley Hoffman finished with a 67 on Saturday morning to join Jerry Smith and Mathias Gronberg at 7 under.
Gronberg shot a 69 on Friday, after a 68 in blustery conditions on Thursday. He was disappointed he didn't go lower in the second round.
"I'm amazed no one really shot lower than 5 under in the morning," Gronberg said. "It was really there to shoot a low score today. We had perfect conditions."
Gronberg was flawless with his irons, hitting all 18 greens in regulation.
Australian Aaron Baddeley, who earned his first tour win at Hilton Head last week, was alone at 6 under.
Two-time defending champion Vijay Singh was 4 under after a 71 that included a double bogey.
Andrew Magee missed the cut at 2 over, but was happy just to play. Magee was competing for the first time since getting a "golf ball-size" tumor and part of his kidney removed at the Cleveland Clinic in February.
"Except for making bogeys, everything feels pretty good," Magee said.
The 43-year-old Magee will have an MRI in August to determine if he's cancer-free. So far, doctors have given him a clean bill of health and told him chemotherapy and radiation treatment weren't necessary.
"Most of the time, you hear about friends who go through a situation like that and they have a couple years left to live," Magee said. "This is a happy story."
Notes: Crowd favorite John Daly shot 31 on the front nine and a 41 on the back for a 72. Daly is 3 under for the tournament. ... Kevin Na and Ben Curtis withdrew. No reasons were given. ... Former PGA champion Rich Beem was in a hurry to leave the course after shooting a 69. He was rushing to pick up his new car, a silver convertible Mini Cooper with a souped-up engine. "The thing is a rocket," Beem said. "It's a silver bullet."

TORONTO (AP) -- Toronto right-hander A.J. Burnett left the Blue Jays' game Friday night against Boston after four innings because of a sore elbow.
Burnett, who signed a five-year, $55 million deal with the Blue Jays in the offseason after spending seven seasons with the Florida Marlins, began the season on the DL after scar tissue broke off in his elbow March 18 during spring training.
Blue Jays spokesman Jay Stenhouse said it was "consistent with what he experienced in spring training."
But Burnett will be examined by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Alabama.
The scar tissue is left over from elbow ligament replacement surgery three years ago.
Burnett lost his first start of the season on Saturday, allowing four runs and seven hits in six innings of a 4-2 loss to Chicago on April 15.
He allowed three runs on five hits in four innings against Boston.
Burnett was a key piece of Toronto's offseason overhaul. The Blue Jays also added closer B.J. Ryan for $47 million over five years, signed catcher Bengie Molina and traded for slugger Troy Glaus and first baseman Lyle Overbay.

DETROIT (AP)
-- The Detroit Red Wings survived a scare because Kirk Maltby has been listening to his coaches.
Maltby scored his second goal of the night 2:39 into double overtime to lift Detroit to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their first-round series Friday.
He ended the 3 1/2-hour game with a long shot from outside the right circle that was deflected past goaltender Dwayne Roloson by the stick of Edmonton teammate Rem Murray.
"Our coaching staff has been harping on us to get the puck on the net because you never know what can happen," Maltby said. "My shot just clipped his stick, and more times than not, those are the kind of goals that win in OT."
Maltby made it 2-all with 6:17 left in regulation when he scored off a rebound on a goal that stood after a video review. He had just five goals this season after scoring 14 in each of the previous two.
"You need guys like Malts to win at playoff time -- he competes," coach Mike Babcock said after coaching Detroit for the first time in the postseason.
Roloson made 54 saves.
"Unfortunately, they got a lucky bounce at the end of the game," Roloson said. "You can't fault our guys at all."
Manny Legace, who made just 23 saves for the Red Wings, said he felt a sense of relief.
"Especially when it goes to double overtime and the other goalie stands on his head," Legace said. "We got lucky."
Game 2 of the best-of-seven Western Conference series is Sunday in Detroit.
The Oilers had a chance to steal the game against the Stanley Cup favorites, but Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said his team has to quickly get over the disappointment.
"You can't carry that baggage long in postseason because that really debilitates you ability to bounce back," MacTavish said.
Three of the four regular-season meetings went to overtime with Detroit winning the lone game decided in regulation. The Red Wings won once in overtime, and the Oilers won a game in overtime and another in a shootout.
The Red Wings entered the playoffs with the best record in the NHL for the third time in four seasons, but they are coming off two straight early postseason exits.
Detroit got off to a good start, with Robert Lang scoring on the power play for a 1-0 lead 4:05 in, but Legace gave up goals on two of the first seven shots he faced.
Edmonton's Sergei Samsonov made it 1-all midway through the first period, and Chris Pronger's slap shot from just inside the middle of the blue line at 8:43 of the second gave the gritty Oilers the lead.
Maltby scored his first goal when he charged toward the net and got the middle of his stick on a rebound off Johan Franzen's shot. The sellout crowd erupted when the red lamp was lit, and did again following a review.
The fans booed just as loudly when Detroit's Brendan Shanahan was called for roughing with 1:50 remaining in regulation, but they were happy again when Legace turned away the Oilers with about 15 seconds left.
"We had lots of opportunities to win the game ourselves," MacTavish said.
Roloson, acquired on March 7 from Minnesota, made 14 saves in the first period and 16 in the second before facing fewer shots in the third. He stopped 16 shots in the first OT.
The NHL journeyman gave Hockeytown a flashback to the outstanding goaltending the Red Wings faced when Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff and Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere helped their teams eliminate Detroit in the second and first rounds of the 2004 and 2003 playoffs, respectively. Those clubs both reached the Stanley Cup finals.
The Oilers haven't advanced in the playoffs since 1998, when Dallas eliminated Edmonton for the first of five straight postseason appearances, with the last one coming three years ago.
Detroit is the most experienced team in the playoffs with more than 1,500 combined games and 26 Stanley Cup rings while the current Oilers entered the postseason with 449 games of experience and no championships.
The Red Wings are in the postseason for the 15th straight season, the longest active streak in professional sports.
Notes: C Pavel Datsyuk, who led the Red Wings in scoring this season, missed the game as expected because of a left thigh injury. He said "maybe" when asked if he'll be ready for Game 2. ... Oilers LW Ethan Moreau (groin) was also scratched. ... Chris Chelios, Detroit's 44-year-old defenseman, has appeared in 21 postseasons, tying Ray Bourque's NHL record. ... Maltby had his second career two-goal game in the playoffs, and first since 1997 in the conference finals against Colorado. It was also his second OT goal in the playoffs, first since 1999 against the Avalanche.

TORONTO (AP) -- A.J. Burnett's sore elbow overshadowed a comeback victory for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Lyle Overbay doubled in the winning run in the 12th inning and the Blue Jays overcame Manny Ramirez's first two homers of the season for a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
The victory could come at a price for the Blue Jays because Burnett left his start after four innings because of a sore right elbow.
Burnett, who signed a five-year, $55 million deal with the Blue Jays in the offseason after spending seven seasons with the Florida Marlins, began the season on the DL after scar tissue broke off in his elbow March 18 during spring training.
Blue Jays spokesman Jay Stenhouse said it was "consistent with what [Burnett] experienced in spring training." But Burnett will be examined by Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Alabama.
The scar tissue is left over from elbow ligament replacement surgery three years ago.
"Something wasn't right," Burnett said. "It's pretty frustrating. I feel about two inches tall."
Burnett was a key piece of Toronto's offseason overhaul. The Blue Jays also added closer B.J. Ryan, catcher Bengie Molina and Overbay and Troy Glaus.
Burnett said he's willing to miss a month to make sure he's OK.
"I want to make sure it is out of there for good. Whatever it is, there is a shark floating in there and we got to get it out," Burnett said.
Toronto's Vernon Wells said Burnett should take his time getting healthy.
"Hopefully, it's not as bad as some people may think," said Wells, who homered twice off Boston starter Josh Beckett.
Down 6-2 in the eighth, Beckett plunked Aaron Hill with his first pitch of the inning, prompting a warning from plate umpire Jeff Kellogg.
"It was uncharacteristic. I was a little surprised by the warning," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.
Toronto's Jason Frasor hit Alex Gonzalez with a pitch in the top half.
"It was definitely a pitch that got us going," Wells said. "It got everything going for us. It worked out well. Hill is going to have a pretty big bruise, but it got things started."
After Beckett nailed Hill, Russ Adams homered. One batter later, Wells chased Beckett with his second homer and cut the lead to 6-5.
Mike Timlin relieved and allowed a tying home to Glaus.
Keith Foulke (0-1) walked Glaus with two outs in the 12th before Rudy Seanez relieved and allowed Overbay's double to left center. Glaus chugged around the bases and slid headfirst for the winning run.
"Whether Beckett did it on purpose or not it got us going," Overbay said.
Justin Speier (1-0) pitched two innings for the victory.
Ramirez went 16 games without a homer -- the longest drought of his career to start a season. After David Ortiz homered in the third, Ramirez hit Burnett's next pitch for his first -- the ninth time they've hit back-to-back homers.
Ramirez added a two-run shot off Scott Schoweneweis in the seventh, giving Boston a 6-2 lead. Ramirez has 44 multihomer games in his career.
Beckett took a three-hitter into the eighth before, but allowed five runs on five hits in 7 1/3 innings.
Beckett denied hitting Hill on purpose.
"Anybody who was watching the game knows I didn't do it on purpose," Beckett said.
Wells said Beckett had pinpoint control before that.
Ortiz's two-run shot and Ramirez's solo shot gave Boston a 3-0 lead in the first. Both balls landed near each other in left center.
Wells cut it to 3-2 in the fourth with his first homer of the game.
Jason Varitek hit a solo shot for Boston in the sixth.
Notes: Ramirez has 201 home runs with Boston, just the fourth player in team history to reach 200 homers. ... Ramirez has 49 career homers against Toronto -- the most by an opponent. ... Burnett threw 78 pitches. He threw 95 in his first start. ... Beckett has thrown seven innings in each of his four outings this season. ... Burnett allowed three runs on five hits in four innings against Boston. He lost his first start of the season, allowing four runs and seven hits in six innings of a 4-2 loss to Chicago on April 15. ... Wells has 11 multihomer games in his career. His last was April 7, versus Tampa Bay.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)
-- The Nashville Predators signed Paul Kariya to boost their postseason hopes. He showed them just how effective he can be when it matters most.
Adam Hall scored the go-ahead goal at 12:06 of the third period by redirecting a shot by Kariya, who assisted on all four of Nashville's power-play goals. That carried the Predators to a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday in the opener of the first-round Western Conference series.
"Anytime your best player gets on the scoreboard, you usually do win," Predators center Mike Sillinger said of Kariya.
"He finds a way to pick up points, and that's what your best players have to do to be successful. He makes great plays. He's got great speed, great vision. He's a scorer, he's a passer."
Game 2 is Sunday afternoon in Nashville.
Sillinger scored and had an assist, and Martin Erat and rookie defenseman Shea Weber both netted their first career playoff goals as the Predators set a franchise record with the four power-play goals.
"It's a good start for us," said Kariya, who has 11 points in his last four games. "It's going to be a long series. That's a great hockey club over there. Our power play was clicking tonight, and [Chris Mason] Mase played very well and managed to get the win."
Mason made his playoff debut and did a fine job in replacing No. 1 goalie Tomas Vokoun, who carried the Predators to 36 victories but is out for the season with a blood condition. A day after turning 30, Mason made 31 saves in winning his seventh straight game.
"It hasn't quite really sunk in. But right now it feels good, and I'm trying to relax and catch my breath and take it in. We still have a lot of work to do, but getting the first definitely is awesome," Mason said.
The Predators opened their second playoff appearance on their own ice where they led the NHL with a 32-8-1 record. And the sellout crowd roared for every move.
The fifth-seeded Sharks had won eight of nine, and they also brought in the NHL's top offensive threats in Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo. Thornton had a league-high 125 points, and Cheechoo led the NHL with 56 goals, but they were held to just one assist from Thornton.
He promised the Sharks would improve on Sunday.
"We know we've got to get better to beat this team. We've got to give them credit. They played well," Thornton said.
Mike Smith scored 4:12 in for the Sharks, who went 30-8 in the regular season when taking a 1-0 lead. Nils Ekman was set up by Thornton in the second period, and Scott Thornton tied it 3-3 in the third.
San Jose picked up its seventh penalty -- for having too many men on the ice -- and Kariya took a shot from near the blue line that Hall tipped in for the winner 34 seconds later.
"He's quick," San Jose defenseman Scott Hannan said of Kariya. "We've got to take passes away, take options away, take away shooting lanes."
The Predators outshot San Jose 14-8 in the opening period and kept the puck away from Mason. But San Jose, the NHL's third-least penalized team, was whistled for three penalties within 10 minutes. Nashville made the Sharks pay by going 4-of-7 with the man advantage.
"We've got to do a better job penalty killing," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "We need to stay out of the box."
Sillinger tied it 27 seconds into the first power play. The puck was redirected in front and went past Vesa Toskala, who also made his postseason debut in net.
Officials reviewed the goal for a possible high stick infraction, but the score stood.
Cheechoo then was called for interference at 9:31, and Erat scored on a slap shot from the left circle at 10:56 for a 2-1 lead. Kariya found Weber in front for the third power-play goal with 19:56 left to make it 3-1.
Thornton got the puck to Ekman in the right circle, and he beat Mason high at 8:50 of the second to pull San Jose within 3-2.
But Mason stopped Matt Carle in front while the teams skated 4-on-4 late in the period, then made a right-pad stop off a shot from Ville Nieminen during a 3-on-1 break.
Scott Thornton tied it at 10:31 of the third, but Kariya got the puck to Hall 1:35 later to put Nashville ahead to stay.
Notes: Kariya's first three assists gave him seven points within four periods. He extended his point streak to four games and has three goals and eight assists in that span. ... San Jose was 7-9 during the regular season when trailing after one period. Nashville went 30-1-4 when leading after two periods.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rain was falling, midnight was nearing, and the scattered spectators who remained were chanting, "So-ri-a-no! So-ri-a-no!"
After a turbulent spring training, it didn't take long for Alfonso Soriano to endear himself to Washington Nationals fans. A three-homer game will do that.
The reluctant left fielder capped a career day with a three-run shot after a wild pitch allowed Washington's go-ahead run to score in the eighth inning, and the Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 7-3 on Friday night.
"Big home run. Big, big, big home run in the eighth inning," Nationals manager Frank Robinson said. "The other two were big, too."
It was Soriano's first three-homer game in the majors, and his five RBIs matched his best. He hit leadoff shots in the first and third innings off John Smoltz -- only the fifth player, and first since 1999, to get two homers in a game off the former NL Cy Young Award winner.
"I don't count the first one, because I just made a terrible pitch," Smoltz said. "After that, tip your hat, because that was a ball and he hit it out of the park."
Soriano's final deep shot came off reliever Oscar Villareal, nearly 5 hours after the game was supposed to begin. The Expos-Nationals franchise hadn't had a player hit three homers in a game since Montreal's Tim Wallach against Atlanta on May 4, 1987.
And no member of the Nationals had hit two homers in a game at RFK Stadium, which some players have complained is too big.
"Not tonight for me," a smiling Soriano said.
He came to the Nationals in an offseason trade from the Texas Rangers and balked when asked to shift from second base to left field. The Nationals even sent eight players out to play the field -- with no one in left -- for what had been announced as the $10 million man's spring training debut. General manager Jim Bowden threatened to put Soriano on the disqualified list, withholding pay, if he didn't agree to switch positions.
Soriano was in left for the Nationals' next exhibition, and Robinson spoke before Friday's game about how the player is looking more comfortable out there. Soriano entered the day leading NL outfielders with three assists.
"I feel like I'm a Nationals player. The only thing is I didn't feel like I'm an outfielder. But I always feel like part of the group," Soriano said.
Where the team always figured he's be fine was at the plate. After starting the season in the middle of the lineup, he's now batting leadoff.
"We're a much better team with him," said John Patterson, who took a two-hit shutout into the eighth before a 3-0 lead became a 3-all tie.
Rain delayed the first pitch by 2 hours, 18 minutes, and the downpour resumed in the eighth. In the bottom half of that inning, Braves reliever Mike Remlinger threw a wild pitch that allowed Ryan Church to score from third and put Washington up 4-3.
Remlinger "couldn't grip the ball at all," Braves manager Bobby Cox said.
Church, who hit Washington's first triple of the season off Lance Cormier (0-1), raced home. That made a winner of Mike Stanton (1-2), who got the last out of the eighth.
Soriano drove Smoltz's fourth pitch of the game over the wall in left-center for his 24th career leadoff homer. Soriano added another solo shot off Smoltz in the third, and Ryan Zimmerman added an RBI single to make it 3-0.
That looked like it might stand up, given how Patterson was pitching.
He retired Atlanta's first six batters before McCann singled in the third. The last out of that inning came courtesy of a spectacular play by Zimmerman. The rookie third baseman sprinted into short left field and, his back to the plate, made a diving, over-the-shoulder catch of Pete Orr's sinking blooper. Patterson applauded as he walked off the mound.
"A very special play," Robinson said. "That one should be shown in Nationals highlights for years and years to come."
Patterson retired another eight in a row before McCann's double in the fifth. The next string was eight consecutive batters, until -- you guessed it -- McCann's double with one out in the eighth.
Patterson went 7 2/3 innings, charged with three earned runs on five hits, with eight strikeouts. He has 21 Ks in his last two outings.
Smoltz left after only five innings, in which he allowed three runs on seven hits. His three strikeouts give him 2,581 for his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Bob Feller for 23rd place in baseball history.
"I just didn't want to leave him in tonight with this weather," Cox said. "You've got to take care of them sometimes."
Notes: Soriano also doubled in the seventh off reliever Ken Ray, but then was thrown out trying to steal third. ... The Nationals are 5-1 after starting 2-9.