Estes and Armour stay one ahead at rainy Tesoro

MIAMI (Reuters) - Americans Bob Estes and Tommy Armour III retained their one-shot lead when the rain-delayed second round of the Ginn sur Mer Classic was completed at Port St. Lucie, Florida on Saturday.

Japan's Daisuke Maruyama and American Ted Purdy made the most significant moves among the 64 players still out on the course when heavy afternoon showers swept across Tesoro Club on Friday.

Maruyama birdied his last two holes on Saturday morning to complete a red-hot run of five in a row for a seven-under-par 66 and a tie for seventh place on nine-under 137.

Purdy finished level with Maruyama, picking up shots at the par-four 14th and par-five 16th for a 68 to lie five strokes off the pace.

Armour and Estes remained atop the leaderboard by firing matching 68s in rain-drenched conditions on Friday, the second day of the 2007 PGA Tour's penultimate event.

Tour veteran Armour, hunting his third title on the world's most lucrative circuit, birdied his last two holes to join four-times winner Estes at 14 under, one ahead of Swede Daniel Chopra (66).

All week, players have been allowed to lift, clean and replace golf balls on the fairways because of the wet, muddy conditions.

"It's hard to find places to drop the balls besides the water," Armour said after a round featuring an eagle-three at the 16th, four birdies and one bogey. "It's wet and the course is not going to dry out, either."

The halfway cut fell at two-under 144 with 73 players qualifying for the weekend. Among those missing out were Swede Carl Pettersson and former major champions Shaun Micheel and Larry Mize.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles)