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Woods storms to shared lead in HSBC Champions
By Matt Hodges (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-07 08:34 SHANGHAI: Tiger Woods closed in on the highest-profile event yet to elude him with a last-gasp birdie on No 18 that forced fellow American Nick Watney to share his lead of the $7 million WGC-HSBC Champions' second round yesterday. Woods' 67 marked a turnaround from a morning session that saw him hammer a trash can in frustration as his putting lines were off, before ending the day at 10-under-par 134 to muscle in on first-round winner Watney, who shot a 70. "Today I got off to a good start and birdied the first hole, but after that I didn't really make any putts," said the world No 1. "I was surprised at how difficult the pins were today. I think they certainly toughened it up after they saw what we did yesterday," he said, adding that things got easier when the wind eased off in the afternoon. World No 2 Phil Mickelson's 66 put him one stroke off the pace with compatriot Ryan Moore and Qatar Masters winner Alvaro Quiros of Spain. "I played well to shoot 6-under. I had a couple of chip-ins, which was nice and kept the ball in play throughout the day," said Mickelson, who is designing two golf courses in China: one in Tianjin called The World and another in Kunming. Three more Americans - Anthony Kim, Pat Perez and Brian Gay - took up the next three slots on the leaderboard, each separated by a single stroke. India's Jyoti Randhawa tied Gay for eighth at 6-under 138. In fact, the way the scores looked after day two, it was hard to believe this was the one - of four - World Golf Championships (WGC) that takes place outside of the United States. It was upgraded to WGC status in April to make it the most lucrative event, and star magnet, in Asia. Woods, the richest man in sport, had a tough day on the front-nine greens but still managed two birdies before the turn. After driving his tee shot on No 6 close to the apron, some 25 feet from the pin, he shouted "goddamn you" and struck out at a red litter box with his club before carding his only bogey of the day. He then found the pin from an impossible uphill lie on the rough on No 16 to produce his fifth birdie and first smile of the day as he guns to improve on his two runner-up finishes here in as many attempts. Woods already has 16 WGC titles to his name. When asked if he had brushed up on his Thai due to being paired with Thongchai Jaidee, Woods, whose mother is Thai, laughed. "No," he said. "Most of the words I know are bad words."
 (China Daily 11/07/2009 page12) |
