Luke Donald led the charge by moving into a share of the lead with Tiger Woods in the World Golf Championships – NEC Invitational, but it was a superb day all round at Firestone Country Club with European Tour Members filling five of the first seven places at the halfway stage.
Donald and Woods ended the day on four under par 136, but only one shot behind were European Tour Members Thomas Björn, Paul McGinley, Vijay Singh and Henrik Stenson, who all finished on three under par 137 alongside American Chris DiMarco.
Donald took advantage of an uncharacteristic finish by Woods – the World Number One double bogeying the 18th – to share pole position, but admitted he was more than delighted with his own 67, which featured four birdies and only one dropped shot, no mean feat in the testing, windy conditions.
“I’m very pleased today – I didn’t do a lot wrong and I played very steadily,” he said. “I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens and even when I missed greens, I was leaving myself in good positions. I really didn’t get into a lot of trouble – it was a good, solid performance.”
Ironically, Donald started the round in far from leader fashion, bogeying his second hole – the 11th – after a poor drive found the clawing Firestone rough. But after that, the 27 year old Englishman was flawless.
He ignited his round with three birdies in a row from the 13th, holing from 25, eight and six feet respectively, and when he pitched to six feet at the second, another birdie was marked on his card. He could not breach the par on the closing seven holes but, thanks to Woods’s error, it was sufficient for a share of the lead.
“The putt on the 13th was downhill and slightly left to right and when that went in from 25 feet that gave me a good deal of momentum,” he said. “Then I hit good shots in on both the 14th and 15th to make it a good little run.
“I was pleased with today because the course was not playing easy. It was windy and the course is quite fiery at the moment. The fairways are firm and fast and the greens are getting that way too. Last year, you could shoot at the pins – this year, you can’t really do that.”
Joint leader Woods looked a certainly to set the pace on his own when he came to the 464 yard 18th at six under par for the tournament, but he drove right into the trees, hit a branch with his second shot leading to a line of sight drop, hit his third over the green, pitched to 20 feet, and two putted for a double bogey six and a level par 70.
“I thought I played well all day, just until the last hole,” he said. “I felt I played well enough to shoot a round in the mid 60s easily and I wound up with 70. Hopefully I can go out tomorrow and get the job done.”
If one European Tour Member by his side is not enough, Woods will have a similarly profiled chasing pack too, Ireland’s Paul McGinley proving the pick of the bunch on 137 with his second round 66, Thomas Björn adding a 67 to his opening 70, while Vijay Singh and Henrik Stenson carded 71s.
McGinley might have shared the lead with Donald and Woods but he dropped a shot at the 18th, only his second bogey of the day. But the 38 year old more than made up for that with six birdies elsewhere, including four in six holes from the 11th in a blistering start to his round.
“I played very well today and had a lot of opportunities – I played a really good round of golf,” he said. “I got off to a good start, got under par, continued then to hit a lot of fairways and never really got into trouble.”
“The two dropped shots I had, the first was a three putt and then the ninth I didn’t get up and down from where I really should have but other than that, it was a really good round of golf.”
Another man more than satisfied was Björn, who continued to tap into the feelgood factor he had during his runners-up finish in last week’s US PGA Championship at Baltusrol with an excellent second round 67, a flawless round which featured birdies at the third, tenth and 13th.
“I took a lot of confidence from last week and today felt really good so we will see how I can take it from there,” said the Dane. “I was really solid today. I only missed three greens in total and two of those were because of too aggressive sand iron approaches, so I was very pleased with the way I played.”
Both Singh and Stenson had to settle for 71s after, like Woods, not having the best finishes to their respective second rounds, Singh dropping shots at the 16th and 17th, while Stenson, like Woods, double bogeyed the 18th.
The great day for The European Tour continued when Sergio Garcia and David Howell moved into a share of eighth place on two under par 138 with Stuart Appleby, Justin Leonard and David Toms.
For Howell, in particular, the return to the upper echelons of a leaderboard after his 68 was particularly welcome as the 30 year old Englishman eventually began to feel free of the rib muscle injury, which has seen him out of action for over two months until his return to competition in last week’s US PGA Championship.
“Yesterday and today was the first time I really didn’t feel it at all so that is great news,” he said. “I think finally I am over it so I can now concentrate and try and get back to my golf. Strangely, I’m probably swinging it better now than I was before – and I don’t think the break is going to do me any harm in the long run.”
The third round was due to have been played in two balls with the leaders going off around 2.00pm, but that plan has been changed due to the threat of storms in the Akron area on Saturday afternoon. Instead, the players will once again compete in three balls from two tees, the first tee time being 7.20am with the leaders – Björn, Donald and Woods – setting off at 9.10am. Play is therefore expected to finish around 2.00pm local time.
