Goosen leads after two days
After day two at the Bridgstone Invitational, it’s still pretty much anyone’s game. Retief Goosen shot a round of 66 on Friday to go with his 67, to put him at seven under par, but that’s only a stroke better than Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard, and both Americans are more than capable of overtaking the South African who hasn’t had a win in a while.
“I’ve been playing quite consistent this year, which is quite nice,” said Goosen, two-time U.S. Open winner. “I’ve just not been winning. Obviously, you want to win. I’ve had a lot of top 10s this year but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s that No. 1 that counts.”
Goosen’s best finish this year was a fourth place at the Sony Open, but he’s had seven top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this year, and is hoping to get to the next level and actually win one of these tournaments before the season ends. Unfortunately, it’s not just Mickelson and Leonard he has to worry about. More than 40 players are within seven shots of Goosen’s lead, and almost 60 if you want to go to 10 shots, which is not a lot to make up at this level; not over two days.
In Goosen’s favour is that no one is killing the course. Bubba Watson shot a 64 on Thursday— his first ever round at Firestone Country Club – but followed with a 71 on this par 70 course. Take out Watson’s 64 and Goosen’s 66 yesterday was the best round so far in the tournament.
Goosen started fast, birdying the par-5 second which he easily reached in two. He then chipped in from 80 feet for another birdie at the fourth. His birdie on eight was set up by what was for Goosen, a long drive of over 330-yards. After bogeying the 13th, Goosen followed with a couple of birdies on the next two holes and was looking awfully good for a 65 until he hit trouble on the 18th, hitting a succession of mediocre shots and ending with a bogey five.
Goosen did have one PGA win in 2009, The Transitions Championship, which was a comeback year for him after a couple of terrible years in which he missed 11 cuts out of 32 tournaments. Before that, from 2001-2005, Goosen was known as a premier closer, winning at least one PGA event per year and was always in the hunt during Majors. He will look to finish like the old Goosen over the next two days, and he’ll have to if he wants to win his first tournament of 2010.
Tags: