Francesco Molinari maintains lead at HSBC Champions event heading into the weekend
Francesco Molinari followed up his opening round 65 with a two-under 70 on Friday 5 November to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the HSBC Champions event in Shanghai, China. The
$7 million tournament is the final World Golf Championship event of the year.
Molinari, the leader by one shot heading into Friday’s round, got off to a hot start with three birdies in his first seven holes to extend his lead over the field. He stumbled a bit with
dropped shots on holes nine and 12, but birdied the par-five 14th to give him the one-shot advantage.
Sitting in second-place is the newly anointed number-one player in the world, Lee Westwood, who ended Tiger Woods’ long reign at the top of the golfing world this past week. Playing in
his first tournament as number-one and his first since the Ryder Cup contested in early October, Westwood has shown little signs of rust as he followed up his opening round 66 with a solid score of 70. The Englishman,
whose lone bogey of the day came at the 14th, had a chance to tie Molinari going into the weekend when he put his ball in the fairway at the par-five 18th hole. He decided to try for the green, landing his ball in an almost impossible spot left of the putting
surface, forcing him to settle for a par.
The biggest move of the day came from South African Ernie Els, who played the round of the day with a seven-under 65. After managing only a 72 in the opening round, Els now finds himself
in a tie for third-place with fellow South African Jaco Van Zyl and Richie Ramsay of Scotland. Englishman Luke Donald sits a further shot back while Ross Fisher and Noh Seung-yul are in a tie for seventh-place at five-under.
Woods and Phil Mickelson, ranked second and fourth in the world respectively, both sit five shots back of Molinari at four-under. They are part of a large group of nine players, including
Ian Poulter and Padraig Harrington, occupying a tie for ninth-place.
Number-three ranked Martin Kaymer, one of four players who could be number-one after this event, sits one stroke back at three-under for the event. The other players capable of being number-one
in the world after this week are Westwood, Woods, and Mickelson.
What they said
Molinari said a lot of attention has been paid to the four-man battle for the number-one ranking. For the Italian golfer, he’s not letting any of this talk affect his game.
"I think it's really exciting for everyone watching that one of the four guys could be number-one in the world at the end of the week," he said. "But for us, it doesn't really make a difference.
We play together with them, against them, pretty much week in and week out. So I think everyone is really just focusing on improving his ranking rather than seeing who is going to be on top."
Coming into the event with a nagging calf injury, Westwood was not sure what to expect but likes his position going into the weekend.
"Everything is pretty competitive in my game," he said. "It's a good performance the first two rounds to come back to. Like I said, I didn't know what to expect, and I'm pleasantly surprised
with how well I've played."
As for Woods, he is neither ecstatic nor disappointed with his performance today.
"My score could have been worse," he said, "but it also could have been a lot better."
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