Tiger Woods is threatening to run away with the World Golf Championship (WGC) event at The Grove, United Kingdom, after adding a second-round 64 on Friday to his course-record 63 on the first day.
Woods stands 15-under par after 36 holes, five shots clear of Stewart Cink, whom he beat in a play-off in the last WGC event in Akron, Jim Furyk and England’s David Howell.
The three shot 67, 65 and 66 respectively but still found the gap widening. All three had chances to get closer to the leader but bogeyed holes at the wrong time and Woods, a renowned front runner, has the tournament at his mercy.
For a while it looked as if Furyk would be going head to head with Woods. He was around in 65 and at one point briefly held the lead but only for as long as it took the world number one to eagle the par-5 18th, his ninth hole of the day where he rolled a putt in from ten feet to kick-start his round.
Woods, who played holes one to nine in 29 shots on Thursday, moved away from Furyk on the same stretch. He made three birdies in a row from the fourth, holing from 35, 10 and 15 feet, to put daylight between himself and his fellow American.
Woods however refused to concede that his fifth win in this event in seven attempts and his tenth WGC title in all is safe.
He said: ”I hit the ball really well again. I missed a few putts early on in the round but made one on the 18th to get things started. I saw that Jim [Furyk] was seven under through 13 so I figured if I shot the same score as he did then he would not gain any ground.
”But when the greens are as soft as they are then the winning score is not going to be 15-under so I’ve got to continue making birdies.” — AFP
