Justin Rose tees off on the 16th hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament in Orlando, Fla., on Friday. (Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP)
That sure wasn’t the case for Tiger Woods.
One shot out of the lead with three holes to play, Woods closed with three sloppy bogeys to fall four shots behind going into the weekend. That makes the chore a little more difficult in his bid to defend his title at Bay Hill and return to No. 1 in the world.
“The good news is we’ve got 36 holes to go,” Woods said. “We’ve got a long way to go. And certainly four shots can be made up.”
Haas not only kept bogeys off his card, his longest putt for par was no more than 4 feet in a clean round of 6-under 66. He was tied with Justin Rose, who was poised to take the outright lead until he was fooled by the speed of the greens after late afternoon showers and finished with a three-putt bogey for a 70.
They were at 9-under 135, one shot ahead of John Huh, who had a 69.
The finishing holes have proved pivotal in the opening two rounds. Haas was challenging for the lead on Thursday when he flew his tee shot into the back bunker on the par-3 17th and had to two-putt from 40 feet for bogey. Then, he three-putted from 8 feet on the 18th hole for bogey to ruin his day.
“So to leave, basically giving two away, my goal today was try to get those two back and go from there,” Haas said. “That was kind of my mindset today, and then I was able to keep it going.”
Rose went eagle-birdie on the 16th and 17th holes that sent him on his way to an opening 65, and he regained the lead Friday with a 4-iron just off the fringe for a simple birdie on the 16th. But after a burst of rain, he thought the green might be slower than it was on his 25-foot birdie try. He ran it 5 feet by the hole, and missed it coming back.
“But that was the only thing that hampered the day, really,” Rose said. “All in all, exciting day and I’m in a good position.”
Woods hit the ball better in the second round and had to settle for a higher score, all because of his finish.
He had about 210 yards from a fairway bunker on the par-5 16th and caught it heavy, slamming the sand with the back of his club even before the ball took one hop and tumbled into the creek short of the green. He pitched up to 25 feet and took bogey. Then, he turned over his tee shot on the 17th and wound up in the rough well behind the green, and his chip went all the way through the green.
Woods followed that with a tee shot into the right rough that forced him to play short of the water, and he hit a poor chip to about 30 feet. He missed that for a 70.
“I’ve made my share of mistakes on the last few holes the last couple of days, and I need to clean that up,” said Woods, who made bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes on Thursday in the middle of his round.
That closing stretch wasn’t the only thing that held him back. Woods missed a birdie putt inside 3 feet on the par-3 second hole. He missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-4 fourth hole and he tried to jam in a 3-foot birdie putt on the 12th that caught the lip and stayed out.
“He’s normally a fast finisher, and you can expect him to probably finish fast on the weekend,” Rose said. “He did a lot of hard work today. He actually played really well. I thought he was probably a couple of shots away from shooting 64 today at times. I’m sure he was very disappointed because he actually played some great golf today.”
Sixteen players were separated by five shots going into the weekend, and the question was how much fire the downpour at the conclusion of Friday would take out of Bay Hill.
Ken Duke (68), J.J. Henry (67) and Jim Walker (69) were at 6-under 138. Woods was right behind, along with Mark Wilson and Vijay Singh, who each shot 68. Rickie Fowler had a 67 and joined the large group at 4-under 140.
There was still some drama late in the day. Club professional Rod Perry found a bunker on No. 9 in a driving rain and took bogey, letting eight players into the weekend. That group included Robert Allenby, who had not made a cut all year. Allenby is assured four rounds against a full field for the first time since June.
Two notable players will not be around.
Phil Mickelson four-putted from 5 feet on the 13th hole for triple bogey, and whatever hopes he had of making the cut ended when his tee shot sailed left on No. 9 and went out of bounds. Mickelson closed with a triple bogey and a 79, his highest score ever in 48 rounds at Bay Hill. It was his highest score since a 79 at the Memorial, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, so at least he treated golf’s two biggest living greats equitably.
“There is a huge discrepancy between the low scores and the high scores,” he said. “Obviously, I played terrible and I deserved to shoot a score like this. But I felt like if I hit good shots, I could make birdies.”
Geoff Ogilvy, at No. 50 in the world and needing to stay there after the Houston Open next week, opened with a 70 and watched it all go wrong in a round of 78. He was still in good shape to make the cut until he hit his tee shot out-of-bounds on the 16th and made double bogey.
Rose wasn’t just fooled by the speed of the green on the 18th hole. He also had a spectator get in his head over a 15-foot birdie attempt on the 13th. The putt narrowly missed and Rose spun around and pointed his finger at the noisy spectator. It wasn’t about heckling, rather advice.
“I was reading the putt thinking ... ‘Might go a little bit right-to-left of the hole. Fairly straight overall.’ And as I’m lining it up, someone is like, ‘It goes right. It goes right. It goes right.’ So I’m like, ‘OK, thanks, buddy,’” Rose said. “It’s just one of those annoying moments where you’re having to then battle someone who planted a seed. And I hit a great putt that’s in the middle with 4 feet to go and it goes left of the hole.”
He smiled when he finished the story. After all, he was still tied for the lead.
Bay Hill scores
Friday
Second Round
Bill Haas 69-66—135
Justin Rose 65-70—135
John Huh 67-69—136
Ken Duke 70-68—138
J.J. Henry 71-67—138
Jimmy Walker 69-69—138
Mark Wilson 71-68—139
Vijay Singh 71-68—139
Tiger Woods 69-70—139
G. Fdez-Castano 69-71—140
Luke Guthrie 73-67—140
Brad Fritsch 68-72—140
Bob Estes 71-69—140
John Rollins 68-72—140
Rickie Fowler 73-67—140
Sang-Moon Bae 71-69—140
Hunter Mahan 71-70—141
Sergio Garcia 72-69—141
Matt Jones 71-70—141
Ian Poulter 72-69—141
Thorbjorn Olesen 69-73—142
Charles Howell III 73-69—142
Retief Goosen 73-69—142
Ben Curtis 72-70—142
Ben Kohles 69-73—142
Boo Weekley 72-70—142
Henrik Stenson 71-71—142
Chris Kirk 71-72—143
Stewart Cink 70-73—143
Chris Stroud 72-71—143
John Senden 71-72—143
Keegan Bradley 74-69—143
Gary Woodland 70-73—143
Richard H. Lee 73-70—143
Brian Stuard 74-69—143
Tag Ridings 70-74—144
Ben Crane 70-74—144
William McGirt 74-70—144
Chad Campbell 77-67—144
Carl Pettersson 72-72—144
Erik Compton 72-72—144
Billy Horschel 72-73—145
Jason Day 71-74—145
Vaughn Taylor 71-74—145
David Lingmerth 71-74—145
Jim Furyk 71-74—145
Bubba Watson 74-71—145
Camilo Villegas 71-74—145
Cameron Tringale 72-73—145
Graham DeLaet 76-69—145
Kevin Streelman 74-71—145
Nick Watney 69-76—145
Scott Brown 74-71—145
Tommy Gainey 72-73—145
Sean O’Hair 69-76—145
Justin Hicks 74-71—145
Nicholas Thompson 74-72—146
Zach Johnson 70-76—146
Mike Weir 76-70—146
Lee Janzen 73-73—146
Francesco Molinari 75-71—146
Doug LaBelle II 73-73—146
Pat Perez 71-75—146
Ryo Ishikawa 69-77—146
Lee Westwood 71-75—146
Graeme McDowell 72-74—146
David Toms 74-72—146
Josh Teater 75-71—146
David Hearn 75-71—146
George Coetzee 73-74—147
Martin Laird 74-73—147
Harris English 75-72—147
Matt Every 72-75—147
Greg Owen 74-73—147
Johnson Wagner 76-71—147
Charlie Beljan 76-71—147
Robert Allenby 73-74—147
Rod Perry 76-71—147
Failed to Qualify
Jeff Klauk 73-75—148
Tim Herron 72-76—148
D.A. Points 73-75—148
K.J. Choi 73-75—148
James Hahn 72-76—148
Greg Chalmers 76-72—148
Charley Hoffman 69-79—148
Jason Dufner 71-77—148
Geoff Ogilvy 70-78—148
Branden Grace 77-71—148
Scott Stallings 76-72—148
Brian Harman 72-76—148
Fabian Gomez 77-71—148
Brendon de Jonge 72-77—149
Russell Henley 76-73—149
Brendan Steele 76-73—149
Marc Leishman 74-75—149
Seung-Yul Noh 74-75—149
Brian Davis 76-73—149
Brian Gay 78-71—149
Tim Clark 77-72—149
Robert Garrigus 77-72—149
Scott Verplank 76-73—149
Lucas Glover 77-72—149
Stuart Appleby 78-71—149
Patrick Reed 79-71—150
Ernie Els 75-75—150
Jonas Blixt 76-74—150
Trevor Immelman 78-72—150
Ryan Moore 78-72—150
Aaron Baddeley 75-75—150
Scott Langley 72-78—150
Ross Fisher 75-75—150
David Lynn 73-78—151
Charlie Wi 79-72—151
Kevin Chappell 79-72—151
Rod Pampling 77-74—151
Dicky Pride 77-75—152
Jeff Overton 73-79—152
Bud Cauley 79-73—152
Brandt Snedeker 76-76—152
Phil Mickelson 73-79—152
Bo Van Pelt 76-76—152
Robert Streb 79-73—152
Scott Gardiner 75-77—152
Webb Simpson 80-73—153
Kyle Stanley 77-76—153
Robert Gamez 79-74—153
Ted Potter, Jr. 76-78—154
Casey Wittenberg 74-81—155
Angel Cabrera 80-77—157
a-Peter Williamson 83-75—158
Scott Piercy 81-78—159
a-Steven Fox 78-81—159
Post a Comment