Bill Haas wanted to atone for the way he finished his opening round. He did that and more on Friday and was tied for the lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
That sure was not 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.
Photo: AFP
“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 four feet in a clean round of six-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 nine-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-three 17th and had to two-putt from 40 feet for bogey. Then, he three-putted from eight 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 on Friday with a four-iron just off the fringe for a simple birdie on the 16th. However, after a burst of rain, he thought the green might be slower than it was on his 25-foot birdie try. He ran it five 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-five 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 was not the only thing that held him back. Woods missed a birdie putt inside three feet on the par-three second hole. He missed a six foot birdie putt on the par-four fourth hole and he tried to jam in a three 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 six-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 four-under 140.
Rose was not 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 was not 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 four 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.
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
PINA BRACE: Claudia Pina scored in the 61st and 74th minutes, while Vicky Lopez added one as Spain notched their third victory in a final in the past four tournaments Claudia Pina scored twice and Germany crumbled on Tuesday as Spain retained the UEFA Women’s Nations League title with a 3-0 victory in the final’s second leg. Vicky Lopez also scored after Pina finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Germany stubbornly hanging on as Spain had done in the first leg, a 0-0 draw in Kaiserslautern on Friday. Spain were without three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, who broke her leg in training on Sunday. Lopez took Bonmati’s place and Spain dominated from the start. Esther Gonzalez swept the ball just past the post and Mariona Caldentey forced a save
RSS