First round of WGC Bridgestone Invitational: Highlights – Part 2
“Yeah, I've been feeling comfortable with myself out there. I haven't been hitting it as good over the last couple months, but I hit it great today and I'm feeling really good about my game right now,” said Day.
The Filipino-Australian professional golfer has not won an event in the current year despite finishing runner-up in both the US Open as well as the Masters. His run at the Augusta Country Club earlier in the year was a phenomenal one where he posed a fast recovery from his slump in the opening round to finish behind the winner Charl Schwartzel.
The 23-year-old Aussie has made 13 cuts in his 15 starts in the current season and has seven top ten finishes. He is one of the deserving contenders on the tour to win a title along with his countryman Scott.
Nick Watney settled for an outright third after carding first round score of five-under, 65. He pulled in six birdies and dropped just one shot on the 18th to fall behind the leaders. Watney has won twice on the tour in the current season and is currently on top of the FedExCup standings earning a total sum of $14,586,611.
No fewer than nine players are tied for the joint fourth, including Rory Sabbatini, D.A. Points, Stewart Cink, Thomas Bjorn, Brandt Snedeker, Kyung-Tae Kim, Martin Laird, Pablo Larrazabal and Ryan Moore with their respective scores of four-under, 66 each. Many players commended the efforts of the staff at the Firestone CC for preparing an amazing turf for the event and also referred to the intermittent rain in the last few weeks which has rendered the course softer and easier to tackle.
Tiger Woods, who showed up to tee-off for the first time after a long pause of 11 weeks, stole major chunk of the limelight throughout the day. The celebrated golfer posted an encouraging two-under, 68 to settle for a joint 18th and stated that he felt much better coming out of a long rehab.
“It feels great,” Woods said. “As anybody who's been off and who's been injured, first time back it's a little nervous to see what happens. But my practice sessions were good, so there's no reason why I should be worried out there. I went out there and let it go, let it rip and see what happens.”
Woods remained level par for the front nine, and pulled in two consecutive birdies on the back nine before dropping a shot at par-four, 14th. Woods did admit however, that he should have given himself enough time to recover rather than to barge into the Players Championship where he severely damaged his left knee.
Phil Mickelson finished for a joint 13th alongside Keegan Bradley, Jonathan Byrd, Lee Westwood, and Ryo Ishikawa. World number one Luke Donald finished for a joint 18th.
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