Tiger at 1-under par through Round 2 of Farmers
Unable to birdie a par-5 for the second consecutive day, Tiger Woods settled for a 1-under-par 71 on Friday in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif. It marked only the sixth time in his PGA Tour career that he has failed to birdie a par-5 in the first two rounds.
A seven-time winner of the tournament, Tiger has a 36-hole score of 1-under 143. Jordan Spieth, the 2013 PGA Rookie of the Year, fired a 63 and leads at 10-under 134.
“It was just a fraction off, a yard off, a foot off and it seemed like it was like that all day,” a frustrated Woods said afterward. “It was just one of those days where it was tough to get it going.”
Paired with Spieth and Jimmy Walker on a calm, overcast day, Woods’ second round started promisingly on the shorter North Course when he birdied the par-4 10th hole. Tiger spun back his short approach shot five feet from the cup and made the birdie putt. He almost sunk a long birdie putt from just off the green at the par-4 11th.
After a two-putt par at No. 12, Woods got up-and-down from the left greenside bunker at the par-4 13th, holing a six-foot putt. Tiger saved par again at the par-5 14th when his third shot trickled over the green. But at the par-4 15th, Woods hit a good drive and followed it with a short iron six feet behind the pin, and then buried the birdie putt. As it turned out, it would be his last birdie of the day.
Woods closed out his first nine with three straight pars. Tiger squandered a great birdie opportunity at the par-5 18th where he reached the green in two but three-putted for a par from 40 feet. Still, he made the turn in 2-under 34.
The second nine was a struggle, especially off the tee. Tiger gave himself few good birdie chances and parred eight consecutive holes. The streak ended at the 547-yard, par-5 ninth, where he drove into the right rough, hit his second shot into the left rough, knocked his third shot 25 feet above the cup and three-putted, running his downhill birdie attempt about eight feet past the hole.
On the day, Woods hit 66 percent of the greens but only 35 percent of the fairways in regulation. He’ll need two good weekend rounds on the South Course to challenge for an eighth title in his first start of the 2014 season. Tiger has done it before, coming from back in the pack at Torrey in 1999 to win with rounds of 62-65.
Tiger will tee off from No. 10 on the South Course in Round 3 on Saturday at
11:15 a.m. ET with playing partners Jhonattan Vegas and Sang-Moon Bae.
