Four way tie at WGC includes Scott

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 World Golf Championship -Bridgestone Invitational | Day Two | 06 Aug 2011

The World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational has reached the halfway stage but 36 holes have not been enough to separate the four players currently tied for the lead.

First round leader, Adam Scott, was joined by the big movers on day two, Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley and Ryan Moore and those players share the lead at 8 under, one ahead of Jason Day, Martin Laird and Robert Karlsson.

Scott was out early in round two and struggled to find the momentum he built during his first round. “Well, obviously I had a lot of momentum yesterday and seemed to find my rhythm off the tee and into the greens and on the greens, said the Australian after his round. “But today was a little tougher. I started really solid, but couldn’t make anything on the front nine, and then — or on my first nine today.

“Then I just hung a couple drives out to the right, so I was in the rough and scrambling a little bit coming in. But it was fairly solid golf, other than that. It was fairly solid other than that; 70 around this golf course is never really that bad. So hopefully I can hit a few more fairways over the weekend.

“I’m just having a hard time drawing the ball at the moment. I’m hitting it left to right really well, but every time I aim down the right, I leave it out to the right. I’m not really sure what’s going on there. I’ll figure it out maybe this afternoon hopefully.

While Scott’s round of 62 had been the standout on day one it was Rickie Fowler who stole the limelight today. His round of 64 was the best of the day and was highlighted by an eagle from 110 yards at the par four third, although Fowler’s 12th hole of the round.

“I hit two perfect shots,” said Fowler when describing the shot. “I hit a great drive down there, really couldn’t have hit it any straighter where I was aiming, and then had 110 yards. Having a wedge in our hand, we’re trying to hit it close and obviously give ourselves a look at birdie. It was going right at it, landed just past the hole, came back, and from my angle knew it was going right down the stick so knew it had a chance, and fell right in the back door.

Fowler actually took the lead at 9 under when he birdied the 13th but then bogeyed the very next hole to drop back into a share.

Asked about the fact that he was still to win on the PGA Tour Fowler responded; “For the most part, (I’ll) just focus on my game and focus on playing well. It’s not something you can put in the back of your head. I won in junior and amateur golf, but it’s a well known fact and not exactly something you can put to the side that I haven’t won yet as a pro. For the most part, I’m going to be focusing on my game. The focus is going to be on playing well and let the other things fall into place.”

A bogey at the last cost Jason Day a share of the halfway lead but he is nicely positioned to continue his great run in big events this season. Playing with Phil Mickelson over the opening two rounds Day made a good start to immediately joint the lead when he birdied the first hole but struggled to build on that. He birdied the par three 12th after a brilliant 7iron shot to two feet at the 12th.

Day hit a poor tee shot at the last, was unable to find the green from the trees and then missed a par saving putt from 20 feet for a round of 70 and at 7 under he is just one behind the leading quartet.

Tiger Woods has been the talk of the tournament to date but up until this point he has not lived up to the hype. His round of 71 today saw him slip back to 1 under for the tournament and he is now seven shots off the pace.

Woods would later say he is having trouble adjusting to ball striking that is almost too good. “Well, it is for me. I don’t know about the rest of the guys, but I’m just having a hard time judging distance as it is. I’m hitting the ball so much farther. As I said yesterday, I got so much more compression, the ball is just going, and I’ve just got to get used to that and trust the number. I’m hitting the ball numbers I’ve never hit before.”

The following exchange with the media after his round tells the story that Woods still needs a little work on handling some of the awkward questions he is asked to respond to or perhaps those asking them do.

Q. How do you swing easier and hit it farther? Because your tempo looks as good as it’s looked in way.
TIGER WOODS: Just compression.
Q. Just getting weight onto your left side?
TIGER WOODS: Not necessarily that, no.
Q. It’s hard to envision how —
TIGER WOODS: I don’t want to explain it to you.
Q. Are you still doing the thing where you’re going through the bag and trying to mirror the half in everything, short game, putter, irons?
TIGER WOODS: It’s already in there now.
Q. So you feel comfortable now?
TIGER WOODS: Absolutely. I don’t have to think about it anymore.
Q. You definitely putt differently than you did ten years ago?
TIGER WOODS: No, actually it’s the same.
Q. Really?
TIGER WOODS: Uh-huh.

Other Australians in the field include Richard Green at 3 under and Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley at 2 under. Ogilvy and Baddeley faltered over the closing stages of their rounds after both had made good moves early in round two.

Robert Allenby is at 3 over and Stuart Appleby 9 over.

Discuss this article in our forums