Turning back the years
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — How impressive was Vijay Singh’s round of 69 on Friday during the second round of the PGA Championship? Well, consider what his peers said."Not sure where @VijaySinghGolf was playing today #impressive" tweeted Rickie Fowler, who also played in the morning and had an 80 at the Ocean Course that will send him home early.
Phil Mickelson, who joined Singh in the World Golf Hall of Fame earlier this year, called the Fijian a "tremendous ball-striker." Even though Singh hasn’t won a tournament since 2008, Mickelson isn’t surprised to see him contending for a third PGA title.
"These conditions here where you don’t have an option to go on the ground, you have to keep it through the air, plays right to his strength," Mickelson said. "He hits the ball extremely solid and penetrates right through the air and he’s done that his whole career. When he gets hot with the putter, he can reel off a number of wins just like he did one year where he won nine times. He has that ability. You don’t ever forget it.
"Sometimes you might go through hills and valleys, but you don’t ever forget how to hit those shots and win."
Singh will start the third round at 4 under and well within the hunt as he tries to become the oldest major champion. He’s 49 now, and the man who currently lays claim to that distinction, Julius Boros, was 48 years, 4 months and 18 days old when he won the 1968 PGA Championship.
Singh is used to defying the odds, too. He has won 34 times on the PGA TOUR and 22 of those have come after he turned 40.
Even Gary Player took notice. He tweeted: @vijaysinghgolf Hey Vijay, what a super round today man. Keep it up my friend for all us slightly older guys. Best
On Friday, Singh said he prospered by concentrating on his game and not how low he was going. He played for pars and worked hard to make his misses in the correct spot when he was out of position.
"After a while you don’t really think about your score," Singh said. "You just think about each hole, each shot and just try not to mess up. Those two-footers are important out here. I think 16, 17, 18, it was so hard just standing on the greens trying to make a putt. It was one of my better rounds. I didn’t strike the ball as good, but I scored really, really well, and I think that was the key."
Singh, who took last week off, posted top-10 finishes in his last two tournaments, including a tie for seventh at the British Open. He’s felt a stretch like this coming for a long time but just couldn’t quite get it going.
"I just started believing that I can do it," Singh said. "I was so negative for a long, long time. I had great sessions on the driving range and just couldn’t take it on the golf course. I finally started to believe that I could do what I’m doing on the driving range. A little tweak to my golf swing during the British Open kind of helped, as well.
"Like I said, my head is in a better spot. I’m more focused and believing that I can do it has helped me a lot.
2nd day placings
AST UPDATE: 12:26 PM - ALL TEE TIMES LOCAL SCORING TO PAR ROUNDS
ADD POS PLAYER NAME: FIRST | LAST TOTAL THRU TODAY 1 2 3 4 TOTAL
T1 - Carl Pettersson -4 2:50 pm E 66 74 - - 140
T1 - Vijay Singh -4 3:00 pm E 71 69 - - 140
T1 - Tiger Woods -4 3:00 pm E 69 71 - - 140
4 - Ian Poulter -3 2:50 pm E 70 71 - - 141
T5 - Jamie Donaldson -2 2:40 pm E 69 73 - - 142
T5 - Rory McIlroy -2 2:40 pm E 67 75 - - 142
T7 - Blake Adams -1 2:20 pm E 71 72 - - 143
T7 - Trevor Immelman -1 2:20 pm E 71 72 - - 143
T7 - Aaron Baddeley -1 2:30 pm E 68 75 - - 143
T7 - Adam Scott -1 2:30 pm E 68 75 - - 143
PGA Championship Schedule 2012: When and Where to Watch Saturday's Action
TNT's slogan is "We Know Drama," and it's fitting that the channel will broadcast the third round of the PGA Championship, which already looks like it will be filled with drama. The third round will be played on Saturday, August 11, 2012, with coverage beginning on TNT at 11:00 a.m. EDT and continuing until 2:00 p.m. EDT. CBS will then pick up coverage from 2:00-7:00 p.m. EDT.
Free live streaming of the round is available online at the PGA Championship's website. Streaming is also available on iPhones and iPads on the free app "PGA Championship," available in the iTunes store.
Based on Thursday's exciting round and early play on Friday, Saturday's coverage looks like it will be worth watching. Some of the sport's very best, including Rory McIlroy andTiger Woods, looked strong on Thursday, with McIlroy appearing to be in particular command of his game.
Keegan Bradley, last year's winner at the event, is in contention to be the tournament's third repeat winner of the stroke play era, which extends back to 1958 (Tiger has repeated twice). Vijay Singh, who hadn't done much to compete at a major since 2006, looks to build off of his ninth-place finish at the British Open, and after a one-under score in the first round is three under through nine on Friday.
But no storyline offers more potential drama than the unlikely first round play of John Daly. Daly, who doesn't have a PGA Tour win since 2004 and hasn't finished in the top 10 in a major since he won the 1995 British Open, looked downright fantastic on Thursday, posting a score of four-under, including an eagle on the par-five 11th hole.
Daly is in fourth place through the opening round, and it would take an epic meltdown—something Daly's done before—for him to miss the cut. With the exception of Tiger Woods, there is no golfer more compelling to watch than John Daly —though not always for the right reasons.
As long as he is anywhere near the top of the leaderboard, there will be plenty of opportunities to watch John Daly and his questionable fashion choices.
The last 16 majors have been won by 16 different golfers, an era of parity unrivaled in golf's history. Of the top 20 golfers on the leaderboard through the early rounds of Friday, 18 would keep this streak going.
We're in an exciting time in golf history in which any one of dozens of golfers can win a major, and Saturday's coverage promises to be well worth watching. No matter what happens, it will certainly be more compelling than Saturday's Olympic women's 20-kilometer walk or the rhythmic gymnastics individual all-around.
Tiger Woods putts into tie for lead at the PGA Championship
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Tiger Woods got on a roll early with his putter in Friday's second round of the PGA Championship. Then he used everything he had in his arsenal just to hold on at the end.
And now he's in prime position, just 36 holes from winning his 15th major championship and first since the 2008 U.S. Open.
Woods holds a share of the lead entering the third round of the PGA Championship after managing a 1-under-par 71 on the windswept Ocean Course at Kiawah Island to move to 4-under-par 140. He is joined at the top of the leaderboard by Vijay Singh (69) and Carl Pettersson (74). Ian Poulter (71) is alone in fourth, a stroke back.
"It was tough out there. Wow," Woods said. "You can't take anything for granted. A simple tap-in is not a simple tap-in. The putter is oscillating all over the place and the ball is oscillating, and you know you have to make an adjustment. At least I was on my downswing and my putts, because the putter is being blown all over the place.
"Your start lines, holy cow, we are starting balls so far off line (on tee shots) to have it come back in. There's so much drift to this wind. It was just a tough day."
As winds whipped to 35 mph on the seaside course, Woods, who had 12 one-putt greens in his first-round 69, needed only one putt on five of his first seven holes in the second round to take the outright lead.
Solid ball-striking kept him near the top of the leaderboard after a bogey on the eighth hole as he made a birdie from 5 feet on the tough 12th hole and made pars amid the brutal stretch of holes 13, 14 and 15.
From there it was a struggle for Woods.
Woods blasted his eagle putt from just short of the 16th green well past the hole, off the green and into a collection area. He was able to get up-and-down to save par. On the next hole, he left his long birdie putt 10 feet short but canned the par putt.
On the final hole, using a 3-wood, Woods hit his tee shot off the grandstands to the left of the fairway of the 501-yard 18th. He struck a mid-iron to the middle of the green but then three-putted from 25 feet and made bogey, missing a 3-footer for par.
"I just grinded my way around this golf course," Woods said. "It's a golf course in which it's a seaside, linksy-type course, but you've got to throw the ball up in the air. With this wind and the way it's blowing and the way it's moving the golf ball, it's tough.
"But I'm very pleased. I'm very pleased to be able to shoot under par today. That was the goal, anything par or better today was going to be a great score, and I was able to accomplish that. I'm swinging it well. The thing is, all year my strength has been my driving, actually. People probably don't think that. I've been driving the ball well all year, and I've been putting streaky all year."
Woods held a share of the 36-hole lead in the U.S. Open before faltering on the weekend and falling to a tie for 21st. In last month's British Open, he couldn't make a move in the final round and finished in a tie for third.
"I've been in this position many times over my career, and again we are just at the halfway point," Woods said. "We have a long way to go. I don't know the forecast; I haven't looked at the forecast for tomorrow. But if it's anything like it was today, it's going to be tough."
The forecast doesn't let up for the next two days, either. There's a 40% chance of thunderstorms and winds reaching 20 mph Saturday and a 30% chance of thunderstorms and winds reaching 15 mph Sunday.
