Woods' 68 good for one-shot lead at Tour Championship
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Plenty of thunder, however, already arrived for Friday's second round — not supplied by Mother Nature, but by the hands and golf clubs of a boatload of players, including world No. 1 Tiger Woods.
Under mostly sunny skies on a blisteringly hot day at East Lake Golf Club — a few patches of threatening clouds passed overhead but never opened up — Woods grabbed a one-stroke lead at 5-under-par 135 with a 68. A stroke back are Padraig Harrington (69) and first-round leader Sean O'Hair (70).
Woods was far from the only player to assault par as players took advantage of slightly softer greens and calm conditions to light up the leader boards with red numbers. After only eight players in the field of 30 broke par 70 on the 7,304-yard layout in the first round, 12 did so in the second round and another three players matched par. Leading the way were Ernie Els, Kenny Perry and David Toms, each shooting 66.
Woods could have shot 65. He missed a putt from just inside five feet for eagle on the 15th and one from just over four feet for birdie on the 16th. He also made bogey on the final hole. Nonetheless, he regained the pole position in the projected points race for the $10 million grand prize that goes to the playoff champion and the $1.35 million the winner of The Tour Championship gets.
"Today's round probably could have been one or two better, for sure. But you know, overall I'm very pleased with my scoring the first two days," said Woods, who has won three times and finished second twice in his last six events. "The day as a whole was a good day. I shot under par, and I got myself into the lead."
Woods was frustrated by the Bermudagrass greens at East Lake, perplexed at times with how the grain — combined with slopes — took the golf ball. Coming into this week., Woods had missed only seven of 66 putts that were from four feet to five feet long all year.
"I've been hitting good putts all day," Woods said. "Early in the round, all my putts were on the high side. The grain wasn't taking it at the end like I thought it would. I think that was the frustrating part because I was hitting good putts; they just weren't breaking at the hole.
"This is one of those things when you play on Bermudagrass — do you take the break out, take a chance of running it past the hole, or do you try and play for the grain to snag it at the end. It's just one of those things that just makes Bermudagrass very interesting to putt on."
O'Hair fell out of the lead but moved his way back into a tie for second with birdies on the 15th and 16th holes.
"I think the difference between (Thursday) and today was just the putting," O'Hair said. "I made a lot of putts (Thursday), and today I just didn't make hardly anything. It was nice to finish with even par. That was kind of the game plan on the back nine, was to just try to get it back to even par or better. It was nice to finish off that way."
Harrington, who briefly grabbed the lead in the second round and had three birdies and two bogies, will be paired with Woods in the third round for the ninth time this season.
"I like playing with Tiger — it means you're near the top of the leader board," Harrington said. "I think it's always best to be playing and watching the No. 1 guy. You know, it's always nice to be trying to push him.
"I certainly enjoyed today. I've enjoyed most of the rounds, I think, we've played over the last couple of weeks. You know, keep it going, really. As I said, the way to do it is play your own game, but I've been quite comfortable out there with Tiger."
Els felt comfortable all day and moved up from a tie for 13th after opening with a 71 to fourth place.
"I've felt my swing was good ever since I got here," Els said. "I've had a nice run into this week and I haven't had too many company days because of stuff going on. I've been into the week early on, so I feel good.
"I've been working on putting and watching what Tiger does a little bit, so if I can keep it up, I might have a chance actually on Sunday.
"You never know."
Phil Mickelson now has a chance after following his opening-round 73 with a 67 and is in a tie for 12th. While O'Hair got a putting tip from Woods during Wednesday's practice round that proved beneficial, Mickelson hooked up last week with two-time major champion and 1991 USA Ryder Cup captain Dave Stockton, who was near Mickelson's home for the Samsung Championship on the LPGA Tour in San Diego.
"I've been putting much, much better, better than I have in two years," said Mickelson, who one-putted eight of his first nine holes and finished with 25 putts. "I called (Stockton) up and spent a couple days with him, and he basically reaffirmed the way I've always liked to putt, and I've gone right back to it. It just feels terrific.
"If I can get a hot round on Saturday, I'll have a chance on Sunday."
0 comments:
Post a Comment