Live Report: Transitions Championship, second round
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By PGATOUR.COM staff
FIELD RELEASED FOR ARNIE'S PLACE (7:15 p.m.) -- Phil Mickelson is in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard next week at Bay Hill.
Mickelson last played in the event in 2008, finishing tied for 21st.
• To see the full field, click here.
PLAY WINDING DOWN (6:30 p.m.) -- It's late in the second round and only two players in the top 10 are still on the course -- Steve Elkington and Rickie Fowler. Fowler is tied for ninth at 5 under after birdieing both of the par-5s on the front side.
STILL GOT IT (5:55 p.m.) -- Steve Elkington picked a good time to finish in the top 10 in the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular -- the finish earned him entry into the Transitions Championship.
Elkington, who hasn't won since the Doral Ryder Open in 1999, is still capable of playing with the world's best despite his age (47) and injuries (hip problems). His classic swing always serves him well in Florida, where small greens and tight fairways gives good ball-strikers an advantage. It's a big reason why he's won three times in the Sunshine State.
He might get a fourth. The Aussie is 4 under on the day and 7 under for the tournament and gunning for a victory that would help him regain his card, which he lost after a lost 2009 season that saw him make just 11 cuts.
He's already racked up three top-25 finishes this year, and a win in the Transitions Championship would help him bridge the gap between now and his inevitable parlay into the Champions Tour in 2012.
Elkington, who won the PGA Championship in 2005, is one of a handful of players in the top 10 who have won a major, joining Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen and David Toms.
STRICKER FINISHES WITH 66 (5:45 p.m.) -- It was a great round, but Steve Stricker knows it could have been a lot better.
Stricker pushed a makeable birdie putt on the 18th hole on Friday to get in the clubhouse at 6 under, two shots back of the lead. Stricker played the final seven holes in 1 over in the second round.
Stricker has hit just 20 of 36 greens this week, but his 51 putts is a good number on the baked greens at Copperhead.
CUT LINE CHECK (5:30 p.m.) -- The cut remains at 1 over. Sergio Garcia is at 2 over with two holes to go; Jason Day is in danger of missing his fifth weekend in seven tries to year; Geoff Ogilvy (2 over) looks like he's going to be sitting out the weekend.
AFTER 33 PUTTS, HIS TIME WAS UP (5:07 p.m.) -- Ever since the head of his PING Craz-E putter broke off while he was practicing at the SBS Championship, Kenny Perry has been struggling to find another one that he liked.
The one Perry used on Friday at the Transitions Championship certainly didn't fit the bill. In fact, after he walked off the 18th green at the Copperhead Course, he handed it to a startled young boy who was waiting for an autograph.
Perry's round of 72 left him at 1 over for the tournament and right on the cut line. He said earlier in the week that the folks at PING had made him more than a dozen different putters since the original broke, so he'll have plenty to choose from for the weekend.
The odd thing? The young boy's name is Matt Killen and he's from Ontario, Canada. That also happens to be the name of Perry's instructor -- but he's from Kentucky and they are not related. Even more strange? The Transitions Championship is Killen's first-ever PGA TOUR event. --Helen Ross
PADDY WILL KEEP FIRING AT PINS (4:51 p.m.) -- Padraig Harrington had never played in the Transitions Championship before this week. But he had no second thoughts about essentially missing a day of preparation on Wednesday when he went to the White House for the president's St. Patrick's Day celebration.
"If I thought going to the White House was going to detrimentally affect my performance, one or the other would have to be given up, either the tournament or the White House," Harrington said.
"You know, I felt that it certainly may put a little bit more risk into the performance, but I didn't think it would detrimentally affect it, and it hasn't, obviously."
Indeed. Harrington fired a 65 Friday that vaulted him to the top of the leaderboard at 8 under. He knows, though, that he'll have another learning curve this weekend as he tries to win for the first time since the 2008 PGA.
"I'm definitely getting more comfortable with the golf course," the Irishman said. "But I also realize that obviously there will be two new pin positions Saturday and Sunday, and probably tougher pins on Sunday, in particular, and I won't be that familiar with it.
"So I will to take kind of the attitude I've been taking for the first to days, which is fire away at them and not worry about it until I get up there. It has not cost me too badly so far. So I'll kind of stick with that for two more days." -- Helen Ross
GOOSEN ONE BACK (4:41 p.m.) -- Retief Goosen has been lost in the shuffle as far as the leaders go today, but the defending champion is only a shot back after birdieing three of the first four holes on the front side.
Goosen is among a host of players, including Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk, who have just one bogey this week.
WHEN THE WEIGHT LEFT HIM, SO DID THE BIRDIES (4:35 p.m.): -- Carl Pettersson isn't ready to say he's back. But he's gaining confidence with each round he played and Friday's bogey-free 68 that left him one shot off the lead was a big boost.
A three-time winner on the PGA TOUR, Pettersson's normally steady swing deserted him in 2009. He's not sure exactly why it happened, but he attributes some of the problem to a 30-pound weight loss prior to the start of that season.
"I guess what I did, I lost it too quickly and I wasn't playing a lot of golf at the time," Pettersson said. "Who knows if that was it, but that's what I think it was."
During one stretch last year, the Swede who has settled in Raleigh, N.C., missed eight cuts and withdrew once. His only top-10 came in the final event of the season when he finished ninth at the Children's Miracle Network Classic.
Pettersson, who is basically self-taught, credits Josh Points, a teaching pro at Raleigh Country Club, with helping him get on track. Points had video of Pettersson's swing from previous years and the two identified areas to work on by comparing the film with the real thing.
Regaining his confidence has been even more of a struggle.
"It's there -- it's just well-hidden sometimes," Petterson said. But the Swede, who picked up his first TOUR win on the Copperhead Course in 2005, has only made one bogey in the first 36 holes while posting eight birdies so he's on the right track.
"I've got the swing back," Pettersson said. "I had the swing back in the fall, really. But you just think a little differently when you've been playing poorly for a while, and I've got to get back to thinking positive and just little things like that makes a big difference." -- Helen Ross
TOMS MIGHT HAVE SHOULDER SURGERY (4:20 p.m.) -- This just in from the Associated Press:
David Toms is considering having shoulder surgery after the Masters, which might keep him out up to two months. The cause? A bone spur in his rotator cuff.
STRICKER STILL FIRING (4:05 p.m.) -- Steve Stricker has birdied the 11th hole for his third consecutive birdie, putting him at 6 under for the day and is only a shot back of Padraig Harrington and Jeff Maggert at 8 under.
Stricker will need to shoot 3 under over the last seven holes to tie the course record of 62 and four birdies to break it. There is only one par-5 left, so Stricker's chances for a 61 seem unlikely.
JUST AN EASY 8-IRON FOR BUBBA (4 p.m.) -- Bubba Watson is near the lead at after his 65 put him at 7 under, and his 12 birdies currently lead the field. But it was his tee shot at the 203-yard eighth that was ridiculous.
Watson nearly holed an 8-iron on the hole in the second round. It was playing against the wind, so Watson hooked his shot against the wind and onto the green. In comparison, Jim Furyk hit a 3-iron. No word on whether Fred Funk hit a driver.
"[I'm] still looking [for] my first hole in one," Watson said. "II don't like to tell my clubs, but hit an 8-iron in there, rope hook in there. Aimed it at the bunker and rope-hooked it against the wind and went in about three feet."
And this, this gem: A reporter asked Watson if he realized it was 203 yards to the hole.
"Well, whatever," Watson said.
WILLIS BACKS UP (3:35 p.m.) -- It's been a strange second round for Garrett Willis, who sat on the 18-hole lead after a brilliant 65 on Friday.
Willis teed off on the back nine and was actually 1 under through the Snake Pit, but he double-bogeyed the par-5 first hole -- the easiest hole on the course -- after a nasty three-putt. He then followed that up with another double bogey on the second hole, which occurred after he dumped his tee shot into the water.
STRICKER CATCHES FIRE (3:17 p.m.) -- The world's second-ranked player was lost in the shuffle when he shot a pedestrian 70 in the opening round, but he's made up a lot of ground already on Friday. Stricker has racked up four birdies on the front nine.
Stricker has finished tied for fourth and tied for 14th in this tournament the last two years.
• To follow Stricker with Shot Tracker, click here.
MAGGERT'S STORYBOOK WEEK CONTINUES (3:05 p.m.) -- As Helen Ross wrote on Thursday, Jeff Maggert was at home in Houston when he got the word that he was the first line for a spot in the Transitions Championship.
Maggert was warming up on Thursday when he got word that he was in the field when Vijay Singh withdrew with a sore back. Maggert, without a practice round, shot 67.
Maggert, despite an afternoon tee time on Friday, is already 3 under after seven holes and is just one shot back of the 8 under total that Padraig Harrington posted an hour ago.
Maggert had to go back to q-school after the 2009 to retain his PGA TOUR card. At 46 years of age, a victory this week at Copperhead would grant him a two-year exemption and carry him straight onto the Champions Tour in 2014.
• To follow Maggert with Shot Tracker, click here.
CUT WATCH (2:50 p.m.) -- On a course as tough as this one, the cut line never moves up. As of now, the cut line is 1 over.
Among the players at 1 over who are done for the day: Fred Funk, John Huston, Kenny Perry, Zach Johnson, Japanese star Yuta Ikeda and Greg Owen.
Perry simply didn't get anything going on the greens on Friday -- he had 33 putts.
HARRINGTON'S POST-ROUND INTERVIEW (2:25 p.m.) -- Padraig Harrington just left the media center at Copperhead and said still not 100 percent with his game .. but very close:
"I'm capable of winning in the form I'm in," Harrington said. "Am I in my best form? No. Am I getting there? Yes."
Harrington, who shot 65 to grab a one-shot lead, has not won on TOUR since his victory in the 2008 PGA Championship.
"You know, you put yourself out there and you put yourself at the line; that tests where your game is at," Harrington said. "You know, some weeks, the results happen and you get a win, and some weeks they won't. I've played tournaments where I've played great coming down the stretch and not won and I've played tournaments where I've played average and won. So it's not always the result."
FINAL HOLE NOT SO BRUTAL ON FRIDAY (2:17 p.m.) -- After witnessing only seven birdies in all of the first round -- one of which was a holed bunker shot by Padraig Harrington -- the 445-yard 18th is playing a tad easier on Friday.
The pin was moved to a more accessible location on the middle right of the green, helping take the front bunker out of play that prevented anyone from getting anywhere near the hole on Thursday.
The afternoon groups are still teeing off, but there has already been six birdies on the 18th today, and Geoff Ogilvy was able to stick his approach within four feet.
THAT IS WHAT THEY CALL A GOOD SIGN (1:55 p.m.) -- For the the first time in over a year, K.J. Choi has broken 70 in each of the first two rounds in a PGA TOUR event. Choi is in with his second consecutive 69, putting him solidly at 4 under as he tries to win this tournament for the second time in four years.
The last time Choi opened with two sub-70 rounds was the 2009 Northern Trust Open, where he finished third for his only top 10 of the year. The 2009 season was a lost one for Choi, who has seen his Official World Golf Ranking drop from ninth to 88th.
Choi, never a long hitter, has picked up some extra yards off the tee this year without losing any of his accuracy, and his putter has started to improve from the doldrums of 2009, when he ranked near the bottom in most categories. He's yet to miss a cut in 2010 -- he's finished in the top 40 every time -- and he looks likely to keep that streak up this week.
As of now, Choi has not qualified for the Masters, where he finished third in 2004. He has not missed the year's first major since 2003, and he will need a victory in the next three weeks to make it to Augusta National.
TOMS FLIRTS WITH COURSE RECORD (1:30 p.m.) -- David Toms is in with a 63, the low round of the day/week, after two-putting the 18th hole for a par. The 63 puts him just three shots back of Padraig Harrington.
Toms' birdie putt nearly went in for the 62 from 33 feet out. Toms, who hasn't won since the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii, missed only three greens and had just 25 putts. It was a full 11 shots better than the 74 he carded on Thursday, when he hit just 10 greens and had 31 putts.
Toms' 64 is his lowest round on TOUR since that week in Hawaii where he won in 2006 (61, third round).
Here is a look at his card:
FURYK'S BOGEY-FREE STREAK ENDS (1:20 p.m.) -- Jim Furyk's hopes for the 36-hole lead were dashed when he bunkered his approach on the par-4 ninth -- his final hole of the day. Furyk blasted out to seven feet but missed the putt for a 68. He's currently 7 under and one shot back of Harrington.
LOW ROUND OF THE YEAR FOR PADRAIG (1:10 p.m.) -- Padraig Harrington finished with a scant 24 putts on Friday en route to a 65, his lowest round of the year and his best on TOUR since the first round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, when he shot 64.
Here is a look at his card:
PETTERSSON WILL PROBABLY PLAY LATE SATURDAY (12:55 p.m.) -- Carl Pettersson followed up his 67 on Thursday with a 68 on Friday morning, putting him at 7 under and virtually assuring himself a spot in the late groups for Round 3.
Pettersson was bogey-free, although he failed to make another birdie after going 3 under through eight holes. It was Pettersson's second bogey-free round of the year. The other came last week in the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular, also in Round 2.
COURSE RECORD? FORGET IT (12:35 p.m.) -- Adam Scott is 7 under as he enters the Snake Pit -- the final three holes at Copperhead -- and he will have the birdie all three of them to shoot 61 and break the course record set by Jeff Sluman in 2004 and matched by Mark Calcavecchia in 2007:
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ONE AND DONE (12:20 p.m.): Justin Leonard has just made a hole-in-one at the 13th hole to move to 5 under for both the day and the tournament. Leonard used a 7-iron for the ace, which is the first made in PGA TOUR competition at the 175-yard par 3 on the Copperhead Course. The ace is the fifth hole-in-one in the tournament overall -- but the first since 2007.
Strangely, Leonard bogeyed the par-5 14th immediately after his ace, putting a very unusual 1-6 on his card. -- Helen Ross
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EARLY EXITS (12:13 p.m.): -- Chris Couch and Jeff Overton have withdrawn during their second round at the Transitions Championship. Couch, who had completed nine holes, had a leg injury while Overton, who finished 11, cited a back injury. -- Helen Ross
MAKING STRIDES (12:08 a.m.): David Toms has just birdied the 11th hole, his second straight on the back nine, to move to 6 under for the day.
The LSU product opened his round with consecutive birdies, too. He made a 2-footer on the par-5 to set the tone for the morning and a 5-footer at the second. Birdie putts of 12, 10, 15 and 19 feet have followed.
Toms isn't closing the gap quite like Adam Scott, who is playing a group ahead and is also 6 under for the day. But Toms, who shot 74 in the first round, is inching toward the top 10. -- Helen Ross
YOUR DALY UPDATE (11:50 a.m.) -- It looks like John Daly is definitely going to be around on the weekend at the Copperhead Course.
Daly has kept his drives in play all week and has sunk enough putts to avoid the big numbers that have plagued him in the past. The key? Like a lot of the long hitters out here, he's been chewing up Copperhead's par-5s.
Daly is 3-for-4 on the par-5s on Friday and is 4 under on the par-5s this week. He's at 1 under for the tournament, two shots above the projected cut line of 1 over.
The cut line should inch higher as the day progresses. The course is already starting to dry out, and scores have gradually risen higher as the afternoon groups prepare to tee off. For the first time all day, the scoring average has risen above 72 strokes per player.
SCRAMBLING AWAY (11:30 a.m.) -- Padraig Harrington keeps missing greens -- he's hit barely half of them in the second round, but he's been a chipping machine, getting up and down from all parts of the rough.
When Harrington has hit the green, he's made the most of it -- he's taken advantage of the par-5s, with two birdies on Friday.
Noted short game specialists Luke Donald and Steve Stricker are usually at the top of the list when it comes to scrambling, but Harrington has had a good year with the lob wedge:
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ON THE MOVE (11:12 a.m.): Bubba Watson is taking advantage of the more benign conditions on Friday, making four birdies in his first five holes. His first came at the par-5 11th where he rolled in a 10-footer. Watson followed with an 11-footer at No. 12, a 7-footer at the 13th and an 18-footer on the par-5 14th.
Thanks to the flurry, Watson finds himself at 5 under for the tournament and two strokes off the lead held by Carl Pettersson. The Swede is also on the course, and he's 3 under through 11 holes. -- Helen Ross
• To follow Watson with Shot Tracker, click here.
SCOTT SCORING WELL ON TOUGHER FRONT NINE (10:55 a.m.) -- Because it plays a full 300 yards longer, the 3,800 yard front nine at the Copperhead Course plays around a stroke tougher than the back nine, which features a trio of par-3s.
Adam Scott opened his second round with four birdies in his first five holes, including a birdie on the 455-yard third, which is easily the toughest hole on the front side. Scott used up 31 putts in a disappointing 73 in the first round, but his long, straight driving has given him repeated birdie attempts at Copperhead.
• To follow Scott with Shot Tracker, click here.
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NORMAL WEATHER (10:50 a.m.): Look for scores to improve during the second round of the Transitions Championship since the wind has died down considerably after blowing in the neighborhood of 18 mph on Thursday. We'll have gentle breezes in the 5-10 mph range for the next two days before the winds increase again on Sunday.
It's only going to get warmer, too, with a high of 70 on Friday and the more seasonable mid-70s on the weekend. There is, however, a threat of rain late Sunday which the weather forecaster on site will be keeping an eye on. -- Helen Ross
FURYK MAINTAINS PACE (10:35 a.m.) -- Jim Furyk, who shot 67 in the harsh wind of Thursday afternoon, if off and running on a mild Friday at the Copperhead Course.
Furyk, who has yet to make a bogey, is 2 under after seven holes after draining a 20-footer for birdie on the par-4 16th. Furyk then stuck his tee shot on the brutal par-3 17th to nine feet, but he missed the putt.
• To follow Furyk with Shot Tracker, click here.
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