Aug 28, 2010Tiger Woods trails leader Jason Day by four shots midway through the U.S. PGA Tour’s
Barclays tournament after bogeying four of his final eight
holes yesterday.
A day after posting his best round of the year, Woods
shot a 2-over 73 at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New
Jersey, and had a score of 4-under 138 after two rounds.
Woods leads the tournament in driving accuracy at 92.9
percent. He needed 33 putts in the second round, six more
than a day earlier.
“I hit the ball just as good today as I did
yesterday, but I didn’t putt well at all,” Woods told
reporters after his round. “I didn’t have the speed at all
on the greens. I was leaving it way short or blowing it by
the hole.”
Day, an Australian, shot his second straight round of
67 for a score of 8-under 134 halfway through the
tournament. Americans Kevin Streelman and Vaughn Taylor
were a shot back at 135.
Phil Mickelson, who has an endorsement agreement with
tournament sponsor Barclays Plc, missed the 36-hole cut. He
was 4 over for the tournament after a 74 yesterday, and
only players at even-par or better advanced to weekend
play.
Needing an eagle on his final hole to have any chance
of advancing, Mickelson recorded a double-bogey. The No. 2
player in the Official World Golf Ranking, Mickelson could
have surpassed Woods for the top spot with a victory this
weekend.
“I didn’t drive the ball very well,” Mickelson told
reporters. “I’m disappointed. I’ll try to get this thing
worked out over the next five or six days.”
Woods had seven birdies and one bogey for a 6-under 65
in the first round, marking his lowest score of the year in
his first event since announcing his divorce. It also
marked Woods’s first score in the 60s in his past 12
rounds.
Season-Ending Playoffs
The Barclays is the first of four season-ending
playoff events on the PGA Tour, the world’s richest golf
circuit. The FedEx Cup winner, which will be determined at
next month’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, receives a $10
million bonus. Woods has won the title two of the past
three years.
He entered the tournament ranked 112th in the point
standings and needs to finish between 50th and 57th at the
Barclays to qualify for next week’s playoff event, the
Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Buteau in Atlanta at
mbuteau@bloomberg.net.
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