Woods takes lead into weekend
By RON SIRAK / AP Golf Writer
IRVING, Texas (AP) - Perhaps only Tiger Woods could shoot a
29 and not even know it. Perhaps only Tiger Woods could share
the lead at 12-under-par 128 after two rounds of the GTE Byron
Nelson Classic and be struggling.
And perhaps only Tiger Woods could have everyone scrambling
for the record book after playing the first 11 holes seven under
par, trying to find out exactly when and where the only two 59s
in PGA Tour history were shot.
Woods had his second consecutive 64 on Friday, this time on
the Cottonwood Valley course, and swung into the weekend tied
with Lee Rinker, who birdied the final three holes for a 63 on
the TPC course.
Mike Standly was one stroke back at 129 and Paul Stankowski
and Jim Furyk were two behind the leaders.
Standly shot a 63 on the TPC course at the Four Seasons Resort,
closing with a 29 of his own on the back nine.
Tom Watson, a four-time winner of the Nelson, was in a group
at 9-under 131.
But it was the round by Woods at Cottonwood that set hearts
racing.
He birdied four holes in a row starting at No. 2 - three times
on putts of 12 feet or less - and picked up another birdie on
No. 8 - on an 8-footer - to turn the par-34 front nine in just
29 strokes, needing only 11 putts.
"I went out in 29?" Woods said with genuine surprise.
"I had no idea."
Birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 put him at seven under par for the
day and meant he needed to play the final seven holes four under
par to shoot a 59, a score achieved on the PGA Tour only twice
- by Al Geiberger in 1977 and Chip Beck in 1991, both times on
par-72 courses.
"No, I never thought about it," Woods said about
shooting 59. "When I shot 59 (in a casual round in Florida
right before his record-setting victory in the Masters last month)
I was 10 under through nine holes," he said with a sly smile.
"There's a difference."
But Woods, who really wasn't very sharp, played the last seven
holes one over par as he failed to get his irons close to the
cup. He needed as many putts on the final seven holes - 13 - as
he used on the first 11, mostly because he was leaving himself
30-footers instead of 10-footers.
"It's funny, coming in I felt pretty good about my swing,"
Woods said. "But it has been my putting that has carried
me here - and my chipping."
Standly, a 33-year-old with one victory in six erratic years
on the PGA Tour, used laser-like iron shots to get a 29 on the
back nine at the TPC course. Five of his six birdies on the back
side came on putts of 8 feet or less.
"I've grown a lot in the last two years," Standly
said about his game. "I'd take another 11 under par on the
weekend and sit right here."
The problem is that Woods is not willing to sit anywhere. When
he got a big lead at the Masters he wanted to break the tournament
record of 17 under par. When he got to 18 under, he wanted to
get to 20 under.
Woods is never satisfied. That is a big part of his greatness.
"Obviously, this is a good position to be in," Woods
said. "But I still have to drive the ball well with my 2-iron,
3-wood and driver."
When a guy shoots 64-64 and is still tinkering, trying to get
better, it sends a chill down the spine of the other players,
and it mystifies those watching him.
"What's he going to do, win every week?" one person
in the gallery said to a companion as Woods made yet another birdie
putt on No. 8.
That notion is certainly absurd, just as it was absurd to think
he could win three of his first nine tournaments as a pro, or
win the first Masters he played in as a pro, or shoot 128 in his
first two competitive rounds after four weeks away from the game.
Woods is merely making up reality as he goes along.
DIVOTS: Woods used his driver only five times Friday because
he hits it so far it goes through the many doglegs on the Cottonwood
course. He will only hit it about seven times on the TPC course
in the weekend rounds. ... Doug Martin made a hole-in-one with
a 5-iron from 193 yards on the 17th hole at the Cottonwood course.
It was his third PGA Tour ace. ... The Byron Nelson tournament
record is 17-under 263 by Ernie Els in 1995. Els also has the
course record at Cottonwood with a 61. ... The lowest 72-hole
score shot on a par-70 course is a 22-under 258 by Donnie Hammond
in the 1989 Texas Open. The lowest score in tour event was a 27-under
257 by Mike Souchak in the 1955 Texas Open. Ben Hogan had a 27-under
261 in the 1945 Portland Invitational.
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