Woods back where he belongs
Tiger Woods started with four birdies, Phil Mickelson with four bogeys and the 19-strong European contingent’s hopes were fading fast.
That was the story when the Bridgestone Invitational resumed in Akron today, where world number one Woods inevitably held centre stage again.
Four behind Adam Scott when he teed off Woods – winner of his last three tournaments and with four victories to his name already on the Firestone course - moved into the lead when the Australian double-bogeyed the 469-yard sixth.
A staggering 75 under for his last 16 rounds, all but one of them in the 60s, he rolled home putts of seven, 15, eight and eight feet on his opening four greens to charge to seven under par.
Scott, who began the £3.9m (€5.8m) event with a seven under 63, added another birdie the moment he returned to the course, but it was not only Woods who was pressing him hard.
Kevin Stadler, son of former Masters champion Craig, was also four under for the day and moved into third place at six under.
Leading Europeans at that stage were Luke Donald and Jose Maria Olazabal, who were tied for eighth on three under after six and three holes respectively, while Paul Casey was only one further back after holing a 71-yard pitch for an eagle three on the second.
This is the penultimate counting event for the Ryder Cup side and while 10th-placed Olazabal was doing his chances of a return to the side a power of good, Dubliners Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley – eighth and ninth on the table – continued to struggle.
Harrington turned in a two-over 37 to slip to five over and joint 56th of the 78-strong field, but McGinley, paired with Woods again, was joint 73rd at eight over.
Lee Westwood was going even worse, last-but-one on nine over and virtually resigned to needing a wild card now.
The Worksop golfer, who required a top-six finish to keep alive his hopes of climbing into the top 10 at next week’s BMW International Open, had only Japan’s Tatsuhiko Takahashi behind him.
At least there was no halfway cut, which meant he could use the weekend to try to show captain Ian Woosnam that all is not as bad as it might appear.
In Westwood’s favour is that he dropped only half a point in his five games in the record-breaking victory two years ago – and is twice a winner at the K Club.
Ian Poulter, also needing a top-six on Sunday to retain an interest in the points table, had battled back from two over to level par, but was still only 26th, while David Howell, still in some discomfort from the shoulder injury he suffered in Chicago last weekend, slumped from fourth overnight to 46th with an outward 41.
That was as big a worry for Woosnam as anything.
The best news for European golf in America today had nothing to do with the Ryder Cup or the tournament. Seventeen-year-old rising English star Oliver Fisher and Scot Richie Ramsay both won through to the quarter-finals of the United States amateur championship.
