Appleby holds on for Houston lead
Defending champion Appleby also won in Houston in 1999.
(US unless stated): S Appleby (Aus), J Gore, J Maggert, B Estes, DJ Brigman, B Watson
H Mahan
L Westwood (Eng), D Howell (Eng), P Harrington (Ire)
The Australian carded an even par 72 and was joined on six under by Americans Jason Gore, Jeff Maggert, Bob Estes, DJ Brigman and Bubba Watson.Second-year pro Watson fired the lowest round of the day, a five-under-par 67.England’s Lee Westwood dropped out of contention after
a round of 75 to close five shots adrift on one-under.Appleby, who had opened the tournament with a 66 - his first round under 70 in 21 rounds - holed three birdies and as many bogeys in his round.But he has finished no better than 33rd since his tied 13th place at the season-opening Mercedes Championship, missing a pair of cuts in six events since. Most of the top players have chosen to practice their way into form leading up to the Masters next week.Tiger Woods, defending Masters champion Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and three-time Houston Open champion Vijay Singh all are taking this week off.The highest-ranked player in the field is Australian world number Adam Scott, who was at four-under after a 71.Also grouped with Scott is South Korean KJ Choi, Sweden’s Daniel Chopra, South African Tim Clark and Americans Justin Leonard and Paul Stankowski.Seventy-eight players made the cut at one-over 145.Among those missing out were Spaniards Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez, Swede Jesper Parnevik and New Zealand’s Michael Campbell.