Australian Masters: Round two recap
The second round of the JBWere Australian Masters took place today at the Victoria Golf Club in Australia. The South Australian player Adam Bland finished at 4-under par 67 and was two shots ahead of his compatriot Andre Stolz. The leader of the tournament
till now, Bland was nine points ahead of the defending champion Tiger Woods with a 132.
Andre Stolz who’s in the second place right now posted a 67 as well but finished at overall 134 due to the 67 he posted in the first round. Stolz went into a temporary retirement due to wrist injury in 2005 that made him withdraw the US PGA Tour. Due to
the injury, he now has a shortened swing.
Following Stolz and Bland was another Australian player, Daniel Gaunt who posted a one over and is in third place with a 137 overall. As opposed to yesterday, where he opened with a 65, he didn’t do so well today. Gaunt shared the first round lead with Bland
and another Victorian Alistair Presnell.
Bland, who was just a $151 roughie before the event, is now the crowd favourite. He achieved three birdies in the last four holes. Adding this to the five birdies he posted yesterday, he finished at 10 under at the midpoint of the event.
Apart from Bland, another favourite of the day was former World number two, Sergio Garcia. The Spanish player revived the life of his game as he posted a bogey free round of 65. Yesterday, he had struggled to give a two-over 73 in the almost perfect weather,
but had a great comeback today. This round was the best of the day and it might just put Garcia in close competition to win his first title in almost two years. Garcia is currently fourth in the tournament.
When asked about his performance, Sergio said that it seemed like ‘one of those days.’ He said that he was making the right decisions at the right time. He is taking things slowly and is really trying to look at the bright side of everything.
One player, who really made headlines yesterday, didn’t do so well today, was the defending Champion Tiger Woods. He posted a 72 and will have to do a lot of work in order to defend his title. If Woods doesn’t win the Australian Masters, this year would
be his first in 15 years without winning a single title.
At sixteenth position currently, Woods will surely need to stay away from the bogeys that he continuously made on Friday. In the windy conditions, Tiger gave a mix of three birdies and four bogeys. He even admitted that he found it difficult to control his
game due to the weather.
"It was tougher today when the wind blows hard... I was struggling a little bit today but I was trying to be as committed as I could be, and it was a little more difficult than it should have been but I got through it," said Tiger Woods.
Tiger said that the ball went off the tee but he wasn’t as sharp as he should have been. The Australian Masters is also special to him since only two weeks after winning the 2009 Australian Masters, Woods' car crashed outside his Florida home. Following
the accident, news of his infidelity was revealed to the public including his wife and kids.
Due to the revelations mostly, Tiger and his wife Elin Nordegren got divorced in August this year. Because of his personal problems, Tiger has been losing form and his game has seriously gotten affected. Woods posted his career worst at the WGC Bridgestone
Invitational where he finished 78th in an 80 man field.
With the Australians crowding the top of the leader board, it is surely going to be a close call. All the players including Tiger Woods will definitely need to bring their best game on Saturday as the final of the tournament is not very far.
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