Tournament of Champions: Top 8 eight scorers of the second round
The second round of Hyundai Tournament of Champions saw the leaderboard flipping. Robert Garrigus jumped from the sixth place into the top with a score of 14-under. He was followed by Carl Pettersson at the second.
The second round kicked off in misty conditions of Hawaii at the Plantation Course and witnessed a considerable high scoring. High scores are considered bad in golf, as it is better to cover all eighteen holes with minimum strokes. Despite that, there were
toppers of the round. Here is a quick recap of top eight scorers of the day.
Robert Garrigus from United States took the top most spot of the leaderboard with a score of 10-under-par. He teed off at 10.30 am in the morning and parred the first two holes with ease. However, on the third hole, the 33-year-old started showing signs
of stress and walked up and down the hill to devise a strategy. The nerves proved healthy for the American, as he rolled a 10-feet long birdie putt on the par-4 third. This was only the start. The winner of Disney Classic 2010 fired three more birdies back-to-back
on the following holes and wrapped the first half with a score of 4-under-par.
On his way to the back, the player smacked two opening birdies and then wedged a 15-feet long eagle at the par-4 16th. The crowd cheered at the Americans’ achievement. The applause lifted Garrigus’ confidence, which resulted in two back-to-back
birdies on the closing holes.
Garrigus was pleased with his wedge game since he has been working on it the entire summer. Commenting on his game, Garrigus said, “My wedge game is exactly where I need it to be. I told everybody, 'I'm not going to really be nervous unless I'm in the last
group. That week of Disney, I had eight shots inside 100 yards and never had it outside 3 feet - and I made one. So it's hilarious to think that little amount of work I put in is paying dividends this big.”
Carl Pettersson who led the field in the first round along Jonathan Byrd took the second spot after carving five birdies and one eagle against a loss of one hole. He started brilliantly, but slow. The Swede claimed of facing visual difficulty because of
the mist that covered the entire course.
He was chased by his ex-partner from the first round, Jonathan Byrd. The American composed a scorecard of five-under-par with the help of six birdies against one bogey.
Next on the leaderboard was The Big Easy. Ernie Els started the tournament at par, but improved manifolds by the end of second. He attained the second lowest score of the day with 100 per cent Green Hits in Regulation. The South African carved nine birdies
without a single drop and got away with 64. The veteran is known for a fabulous victory in 2003 at the same course.
He was joined by FedEx winner Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, and Francesco Molinari. Except Furyk, both the veterans improved their scores in the second round. Furyk decided to stick to his old scorecard, but carved a blemish free result. He had five birdies
in the bag and finished fifth in driving distance.
Speaking to the press, Stricker said, “Everybody is jammed up there. If the weather stays like this, there is going to be low scores. You've got to keep going.”
Another considerably improved scorecard was produced by Dustin Johnson, the man who is known as the King of Bunkers for getting into bunker troubles. The American shot 66 with the help of nine beautiful birdies. However, his tee shot for the 14th
hole deflected into long grass because of air pressure and resulted into double bogey. Rookie Ben Crane, who fell from the fifth spot and stopped at eight, joined him.
Tags: