2010 Chevron World Challenge: Tiger Woods still leads on second day
It seems that Tiger Woods has started to shed away his old skin to get into new and thrilling attire. The world number two smashed a round of 18-under to surge into clubhouse lead at the 2010 Chevron World Challenge.
Woods stepped the tee at 2:35 in the afternoon on Friday and gave a brilliant performance, vaulting his chances on the trophy. For the first time in 2010, Tiger compiled a blemish-free scorecard of six birdies, which enabled him to take a four-stroke lead
over Graeme Mc Dowell.
The defending champion, Graeme Mc Dowell gave a tough competition to the leader, but a double bogey at the ninth hole pushed the Irish below. He wrapped the day with a 9-under-par.
Graeme failed to perform at his fullest. Speaking to the press, the winner of US Open said, "Sometimes in a four-round tournament, you get a round where you don't really play your best. To shoot 3 under and not play my best, I'm pretty happy with that."
A stroke behind the Irish was his compatriot, Rory Mc Ilroy. The 21-year-old missed a few shots and had to surrender for the third spot. Rory was 10-under when he reached the 16th hole, but he missed the birdie putt, which he approached with a
5-wood. The player had to settle for a par. On the last hole, the Ryder Cup champion, smashed a chip on the flag, but the ball missed the 20 feet putt and instead of a birdie earned him a double bogey. The loss at the last hole pushed the player behind the
leader with a score of 70.
Tiger saw the young Irish rise and fall in front of his eyes. It was Rory Mc Ilroy who claimed that he was going to take the American down as he had lost his swing. However, the bid could not reach its end as both the captains decided to put Tiger against
Francesco Molinari in the singles.
Friday’s round offered wholesome entertainment to the spectators. The real drama started later in the day when Paul Casey stroke his driver, holing the par-3 12th with one shot. The crowd screamed at the amazing shot. However, this was not enough for the
crowd so Bubba Watson came forward and smashed the rarest shot in golf: an albatross at the second shot on the par-5 16th. The magnificent stroke perked him to 3-under-69.
The most considerable amount of improvement was shown by Anthony Kim, who rolled from 79 to 66 in the second round. The veteran fired four birdies and two eagles on the Sherwood Country Club, which is known for 1300 Oak trees that are planted on it.
The worst scores of the day were produced by Steve Stricker (75), Camilo Villegas (75), Jim Furyk (73) and Stewart Cink (75).
The interesting feature of the leader board was the results that showed four Europeans at the top; Mc Dowell second, McIlroy and Donald third, and Casey fifth. This showed the strength and level of European golf which is considered way better than the golf
played in US.
Trailing behind with five-under-par was yet another Englishman, Ian Poulter. The world number eight made a pleasant recovery with six birdies against one bogey. Poulter made several statements before coming to Sherwood Country Club regarding overriding Tiger
Woods. However to his despise, he failed to fulfil any of his claims.
In his first round, Poulter missed several shots and hence carved five bogeys on the scorecard which eventually led him towards fall.
Tiger Woods managed to keep his head high even on the second day of Chevron World Challenge, which has $5 million on offer. The former world number one helped a bogeyless round with six birdies to maintain his lead over seventeen veterans. Chances are that
Woods will surge back to the throne, which he lost to Lee Westwood in October.
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