From the very start, the second round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational was a struggle for world No. 28 Tiger Woods. Despite struggles with putting and distance control which plagued him in the first round, Woods was able to grind out a 1-over round of 71 at Firestone CC. That score has him a shot under par at the halfway point and seven back of the lead.
His position is about dead in the middle of the field, which is slightly worse than most expected Woods to do at the start of the week. Woods, though, was expecting to do much better.
?Why show up at a tournament if you?re not there to win? There?s no reason to come,? he said.
Beginning on the 10th hole ? site of his first birdie since The Masters on Thursday ? Woods began with four consecutive pars. He missed an 8-foot birdie putt at the 12th hole that could have gotten him under par for the day and with early momentum. Instead, two holes later, he overshot the 14th green for the second consecutive day and missed the par putt from 2-feet to go over par for the day. At the next hole, Woods 3-putted the par-3 15th to go 2-over and looked like the potential for a putting tailspin was growing.
Woods steadied his round, though, with consecutive birdies at the long par-5 16th ? which he birdied on Thursday ? and a bullet approach to the par-4 17th for a short birdie make.
Again, Woods made four consecutive pars until the 4th hole, where an errant drive forced a short approach. A lousy chip left him in position to get back to over par for the day. Woods responded with a birdie at the fifth hole ? hitting his par-3 tee shot to eight feet.
Then the sixth was the debacle of the day. Woods it a poor tee shot, and flew his approach into a greenside bunker. Woods then airmailed the green with his explosion shot, falling off the front of the putting surface. Three putts later and Woods had made double bogey to get back to his low point of the round.
Woods mustered one final birdie on the very next hole by draining a 20-footer for birdie at the par-3 7th.
Uncharacteristically, Woods salvaged his round with par-3 scoring ? not typically his strength. But true to his form, Woods shows signs of a guy who lacks reps and therefore consistency in all aspects of his game.
Woods was again shaky with the putter, not even being streaky so much as erratic. The short game appeared secure at times, but other shots lacked touch. The ballstriking was again good, but distance control seemed wanting.
Woods said again he was hitting his ball much too far.
?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,? he said.
Woods has two rounds to go at Firestone, now eight shots back of the lead. Winning is out of the equation for Tiger, who is now playing to get back into game shape for the PGA Championship next week. And if he wants to do that, he will have to drive the ball better. Though his accuracy improved to 57% off the tee from 36% on Thursday, Tiger took two more putts and hit one less green in regulation ? the difference between just over or just under par.
Despite the schizophrenic nature of his round, Woods says he is close.
?I know my stats don?t show it, but just the way I?m driving the golf ball, the start lines are so much tighter, and the shape of the shots are so much tighter,? Woods said. ?I?m so close to putting the ball on a string, so it?s coming.?
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