Anand Datla
September 22, 2018: The crescendo at East Lake is gaining more voice. Tiger Woods followed through his first round 65 with a disciplined 68 in the second round to retain a share of the lead. Justin Rose ground out a solid 67 to join Tiger at the front of the pack, setting up an exciting weekend at East Lake for the TOUR Championship and FedExCup honours.
It has been more than three years since Woods carried a lead into the weekend. Considering that he has pulled out victorious in 37 of the 48 instances when he enjoyed either a lead or a share of it, the anticipation of a grandstand finish for the season is creating a big buzz at East Lake.
As it stands though, the odds are looking good for Rose. The Englishman has a brilliant opportunity to celebrate his ascension to the top rank with a $10mn cheque and the FedExCup on Sunday if he can stay inside the top three.
The last time Woods had a 36-hole lead was at the Wyndham Championship in 2015. He finished T10 on that occasion. And he wasn’t ready to count his chicks just yet at the end of an enervating effort on Friday. “We have a long way to go,” said a weary Woods. “This is not an easy golf course.”
“This course, the way it’s playing right now, you’ve got to be so patient,” Woods said. “It’s hard to make birdies, and on top of that, it’s hard to get the ball close. It’s very easy to make mistakes, make a few bogeys here and there. And look at most of the field. That’s basically what they’re doing.”
Woods made just two of the first eleven fairways before finding some rhythm on the back nine. He made three birdies and saved par from just inside 10 feet from the 12th hole to get his juices flowing.
A double bogey at the 16th came at the wrong time for Woods, but he repaired some of that damage with a birdie at the final hole to ensure he shared the lead with Rose.
Woods rued being aggressive with his approach, trying to fly over a tree, after a mistimed drive left him in a tight spot. Instead he came up some 30 yards short, with a plugged lie in the bunker.
“In hindsight, I probably should have just pitched out and the worst I would have is a 5,” explained Woods. “And with my wedge game right now, a pretty high percentage I would have got that up-and-down. But I thought I could sneak it up there and get up on the upslope and have a good angle in there, and it just didn’t work out.”
Rose offset a bogey on either side with a smattering of five birdies to put himself in prime position for a weekend assault on the big prize.
Rory McIlroy continued to mix a heady concoction of birdies and bogeys. He took his tally of birdies to twelve for the week, five on Friday. But he also conceded three bogeys to settle for a 68, two behind the leaders.
Billy Horschel and Patrick Cantlay added a remarkable 65 in the second round, compensating in good measure for the 71 they both made in the first round.
Second-Round Leaderboard
Justin Rose 66/67 – 133 (-7)
Tiger Woods 65/68 – 133 (-7)
Rory McIlroy 67/68 – 135 (-5)
Billy Horschel 71/65 – 136 (-4)
Patrick Cantlay 71/65 – 136 (-4)
Jon Rahm 68/68 – 136 (-4)
Justin Thomas 67/69 – 136 (-4)
Projected FedExCup standings as things stand after two rounds
Justin Rose (2nd in FedExCup): 3,800 projected points
Tiger Woods (20th in FedExCup): 2,219 projected points
Bryson DeChambeau (1st in FedExCup): 2,124 projected points
Tony Finau (3rd in FedExCup): 1,782 projected points
Justin Thomas (5th in FedExCup): 1,715 projected points
