Not so Bland leader at JBWere Masters
BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2010 Australian Masters | Round Two | 12 Nov 2010
South Australian Adam Bland is a the 36 hole leader at the JBWere Masters in Melbourne, the 28 year old Nationwide Tour player adding a superb second round of 67 in strong blustery conditions to open up a two shot lead over New South Welshman Andre Stolz.
His round was bettered only by a resurgent Sergio Garcia (65) and equalled only by the second placed Andre Stolz.
After leading on day one it was important for Bland that he follow up. “Because my confidence isn’t really sky high at the moment if I had come out and shot a big number today then I would have just been back to where I was,” said Bland after his round.
Bland, who has won twice in lesser events on the Canadian Tour and once on the Von Nida Tour in Australia in his six year professional career, heads to Stage Two of the PGA Tour School on Sunday night and irrespective of what happens over the final 36 holes he will leave with his game in better shape than was the case prior to the event.
“I thought I would use this event to try and get a little bit of confidence and hopefully some game, something I can go over there (the US) with that can get me through those two stages,” Bland added.
Bland played the Nationwide Tour this season but over recent months has struggled with his game. He was unable to record a finish inside the top 40 in any of his last ten starts on that Tour and so the opening two days of this event have been particularly important.
When asked if he might have something extra to celebrate before he heads to the US he was quick to put a lid on any such expectations. “Well that would be nice but we are only halfway through the golf tournament so there is a long way to go and a lot of things can happen but if that was to be the case then I’ll take it that is for sure.”
“Anyone who has made the cut here can win,” he said responding to a question re the special players behind him. “If we get bad conditions and I play bad or someone plays good then the gap closes and all of a sudden people are overtaking others.”
“I would like to say I think I will handle it well. I guess in 24 hours we will find out how we handled it. As long as I learn from it – well I have a long career so hopefully if I can take things out of tomorrow I can build my career from there.”
Stolz also played in the afternoon conditions and birdied two of his last three holes for his second consecutive round of 67 and at 8 under he is hot on the heels of the leader.
Stolz is a former winner on the PGA Tour, that coming in 2004 in Las Vegas in his rookie season but soon after he developed an injury to his wrist and made the decision to return to his base on the Central Coast of Australia. Since then he has operated a driving range but two years ago returned to competitive golf with several good results including a victory at the Victorian PGA Championship.
Using the status he had as a PGA Tour winner he has played several Nationwide Tour events in the past two years but has also played the fledgling One Asia Tour where he finished third at the recent Midea China Classic.
Joint first round leader with Bland and Alistair Presnell, Daniel Gaunt, was not able to match the exploits of the man he shared the lead with after day one but he battled well and after his round expressed his satisfaction with the manner in which he handled the situation.
When asked just which of the two rounds gave the most satisfaction he said, “Both in different ways I suppose. Yesterday I was taking pins out and holing putts from everywhere but today it was a grinding game out there and because I did not hit it well I had to get up and down a few times. I holed a few putts and that kept the momentum going.”
Sergio Garcia bounced back from his indifferent opening round of 73 to record the best round of the day on day two. His six under par 65 was the best by two shots and has him alone in 4th position at 4 under and six behind Bland.
“I guess it is a little bit funny. It sums up my golf game at the moment. Some rounds are spectacular and some rounds are not that great. Anyway we are trying to get back into it, so slowly I guess we will be ok. I think that it (his game) is slowly coming around but I could go out and shoot 75 tomorrow. I’m just taking it slowly and taking the positives out of everything. I am also trying to make sure that rounds like yesterday do not affect me.”
Six players are at 3 under and in a share of 5th position including PGA Tour players this year, Nathan Green and Jarrod Lyle along with Peter O’Malley, Anthony Brown, Matthew Brown and New Zealander Gareth Paddison.
Tiger Woods again struggled on the greens. “The pins were pretty accessible but all of us agreed the greens were a little slower than yesterday,” said Woods after his round. “It was hard to believe they weren’t going to swing.”
In terms of his swing changes Tiger indicated the weather played its role today. “It was tougher today as when the winds blow hard I was just like anybody else – you know you tend to revert back but I got through.”
The cut fell at 3 over with all the marquee players still around for the weekend. In addition to Woods and Garcia, Stuart Appleby at 2 under, Camilo Villegas at 1 under, Geoff Ogilvy at even par and Robert Allenby at 3 over still get the chance to make progress over the weekend, a weekend which promises some wild Melbourne weather.
This tournament is still very much alive and as the leader knows only too well any player still in the field still has a chance to take the title.
