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Wood shoots 64, leads at Qatar Masters

Published: Friday, January 25, 2013 | 11:23:27 AM















Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Chris Wood shot an eight-under 64 in the second round.



DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- Chris Wood shot an 8-under 64 Friday for a three-stroke lead on Michael Campbell and two others after the third round of the Qatar Masters.
Wood started the day two shots behind Ryder Cup stars Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer but moved up the leaderboard with five birdies on the front nine en route to a 15-under 201.

He had an eagle at the 10th when his second shot landed within 10 feet of the pin. He missed a short putt on the 12th for bogey but had birdies on the 14th and 16th to match fellow Englishman Simon Khan for the low round of the tournament.
"I played pretty nicely. I wouldn't say it's one of my best," Wood said. "I played similar to the way I played on Wednesday, the first round. Shot 67, could have been a few better."
Khan made a move on Friday, joining Campbell (68) and Alexander Noren (66) in second. The 486th-ranked Khan had six birdies on his first seven holes and finished with eight during his bogey-free round. He just missed a ninth birdie when his putt on the 18th came up short.
Garcia (70) fell into a tie for fifth with Brandon Grace (67) of South Africa, four shots behind. The Spaniard was in the hunt early on thanks to several long birdie putts, but bogeyed the 15th and picked up a second bogey on 18 when his approach shot went into the water just left of the green.
"I can be a little bit disappointed with the score, but not with the way I played," Garcia said. "Even the last shot, I thought I hit a nice shot, tried to draw it a little bit with a 9 iron and the wind just didn't hold it at all and unfortunately it went in the water. But, you know, we managed to make a good up and down for bogey. Hopefully, the putts that didn't want to go in today will go in tomorrow."
Kaymer struggled to remain in touch with the leaders. The former No. 1 shot a 72 and was six behind. Kaymer had a birdie on the 2nd but poor putting led to bogeys on the 4th and 6th holes.
"Very disappointing," Kaymer said. "I thought I hit more good golf shots today, but putting was very tough. I missed I think a putt from a foot today, and one from two feet, and it's just difficult to stay positive on the golf course."
The 142nd-ranked Wood is looking for his first European Tour win in his 115th event.

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LPGA creates global competition with new event

Published: Thursday, January 24, 2013 | 04:20:11 PM

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Tina Fineberg/AP
LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan announced the event Thursday at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando.



SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Two years before golf returns to the Olympics, the LPGA Tour is creating a tournament to determine the best in the world.
The International Crown will start in 2014 and be played every other year. It will feature four days of team matches among eight countries that can field the strongest four-player teams based on the world rankings. The inaugural event will be in late July at Caves Valley Golf Club outside Baltimore.
"We have a tour designed to identify the best player in the world. The Olympics will award the best female golfer and country," LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan said Thursday. "But we have nothing that addresses which country is building the best stable of women's golfers."
He announced the new event at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.
As much as the International Crown has an Olympic flavor, it might be more closely related to the Solheim Cup, which for years did not include the best players in women's golf because it was only for Americans and Europeans. Among those who never played were Karrie Webb of Australia, Se Ri Pak of South Korea, Lorena Ochoa of Mexico and Yani Tseng of Taiwan.
Whan said the players would be in uniforms of their country, free of corporate sponsorships. The purse will be $1.6 million, with $400,000 going to the winning team. It also will be played in the middle of the LPGA Tour season, when players are in form for the majors and media interest is higher than it would be at the end of the year.
The tournament also brings a new format to golf, breaking away from the routine of 72-hole events.
The eight teams will be divided into two brackets, and every team in each bracket will face each other over three days of fourball matches. Five teams will advance to the final round of singles matches, with the points carrying over.
The fifth team will be determined by a playoff between each of the countries that finish third in their brackets. Each country will be required to submit a name in an envelope of the player who would compete in the playoff - to determine the fifth finalist, and if a playoff is needed to determine the overall winner.
"At the LPGA, we celebrate great players from all over the world on a weekly basis, but this is the first time we'll pit country versus country for global bragging rights," Whan said.
Still, the International Crown inevitable will shut out some of the best players.
Suzann Pettersen is No. 6 in the world, but Norway only has two players among the top 500 in the world, and thus would not be eligible if it were held this year. Sheshan Feng, the first Chinese player to win a major last year, also would not have enough teammates to be one of the eight countries.
Based on this week's world ranking, three players from the top 15 would not be eligible - Pettersen, Feng and Catriona Matthew of Scotland.
"I was talking about this last year with Suzann Pettersen and she said, `I like the idea, but aren't you building something I'm not going to be in?"' Whan said. "It's an interesting situation. But we don't need another event to identify the best in the world. Our tour does that."
The LPGA Tour years ago had the Lexus Cup, which was designed for the players who couldn't compete in the Solheim Cup. It never gained much traction, however, with Asia competing against the rest of the world. Whan found it to be far more compelling to have players competing for their own country.
"I've been asked many times whether we should add other countries or regions to the Solheim Cup," he said. "One thing you learn quickly as commissioner when you go to the Solheim Cup is you're not going to mess with that. ... Korea wants to play Japan, not be teammates. This gives the fans what they want."
While it will be a global competition, it likely will be staged in the United States.
After the inaugural event Caves Valley, it will move to Rich Harvest Farms west of Chicago - site of the 2009 Solheim Cup - for 2016. Whan said it would be played in July, which is the heart of the LPGA Tour's domestic schedule.
"Our tour is so global and we need this type of event," said Stacy Lewis, the LPGA Tour's player of the year. "People always want to know why golfers from Asia are so good. Well, now we can see how all the countries stack up."

[OnePiece]

Watson pulls out of Farmers Insurance Open citing illness

Published: Thursday, January 24, 2013 | 12:30:06 PM

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Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Watson was also sick at the Tournament of Champions earlier this season.



SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Masters champion Bubba Watson has withdrawn from the Farmers Insurance Open because of an illness.
Watson is a past champion at Torrey Pines, winning two years ago with a birdie putt on the final hole. He tweeted Thursday, "Pulling out of tourney this morning, don't have energy for golf. Feel the same as Maui." Watson had a stomach illness at Kapalua during the Tournament of Champions, where he tied for fourth.
Watson was to play with Phil Mickelson and defending champion Brandt Snedeker. He was replaced in the field by Billy Mayfair.

[OnePiece]

Tiger Woods in control at Torrey Pines

Published: Sunday, January 27, 2013 | 10:18:48 PM

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Robert Beck / SI
Tiger Woods leads by six shots with 11 left to play on Monday afternoon.



SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Due to the fog that wiped out an entire day of golf, the Farmers Insurance Open was never going to end on Sunday.
Tiger Woods just made it look as if it was over.
Hands thrust in the pockets of his rain pants, Woods walked off Torrey Pines in the chill of twilight with a six-shot lead and only 11 more holes standing in the way of winning on the public course along the Pacific Ocean for the eighth time in his pro career.
He drove the ball with superb control in the third round on his way to a 3-under 69 to build a four-shot lead after three rounds. He lost control with his driver in the fourth round and still managed three birdies in seven holes.
"All we can do tomorrow is go out and try to make him think about it a little bit and see what happens," said Nick Watney, one of two former winners at Torrey Pines who faced the tough task of trying to make up six shots on Woods.
The other was defending champion Brandt Snedeker.
"I've got a guy at the top of the leaderboard that doesn't like giving up leads," Snedeker said. "So I have to go catch him."
Woods was at 17-under par for the tournament and will resume his round on the par-3 eighth hole. CBS Sports wants to televise the Monday finish - no surprise with Woods in the lead - so play won't start until 2 p.m. EST.
Snedeker played 13 holes of the final round. Watney played eight holes. Both were at 11-under par.
Woods played 25 holes. He started with a two-shot lead and tripled it before darkness suspended the final round.
"It was a long day ... and I played well today," Woods said. "Overall, I'm very pleased that I was able to build on my lead."
Thick fog washed out all of Saturday, forcing players to go from sunrise to sunset Sunday. They finished the third round, took about 30 minutes for lunch and went right back onto the golf course.
Woods finished 54 holes at 14-under 202 and was four shots ahead of Canadian rookie Brad Fritsch. It was the 16th time in his PGA Tour career that Woods had a 54-hole lead of at least four shots.
If that wasn't enough to make the outcome look inevitable, everything was going his way in the final hour.
His tee shot was so far left on No. 2 that the ball finished in the first cut of rough in the sixth fairway. He still saved par. Woods made a birdie putt of about 10 feet on No. 3, and then wound up well right of the cart path and blocked by a tree on the fourth hole. He carved a punch shot around the tree, safely in front of the green, and his chip banged into the pin and dropped for birdie.
Two holes later, from a mangled lie in the right rough, he smashed a 5-wood that ran onto the green and set up a two-putt birdie.
Snedeker was seven shots behind after three rounds, the same deficit he faced a year ago. Only now he's trying to chase down Woods, already a seven-time winner at Torrey Pines with a daunting record from in front. Woods is 38-2 on the PGA Tour when he has the outright lead going into the last round.
"I've got to make some more birdies," Snedeker said. "I've got a long way to go. I did a great job today of staying patient and playing good golf."
Woods didn't bother wearing red Sunday, knowing the tournament wouldn't end until the next day.
In some respects, though, it had the feeling of being over. Fritsch birdied the last hole of the third round for a 70 to finish on 206. Erik Compton finished birdie-eagle for a 71 and was alone in third through 54 holes, five shots behind. When someone asked him about chasing Woods, Compton started laughing.
"I'm trying to chase myself," he said.
Woods has won seven times at Torrey Pines as a pro, including a U.S. Open, and another win Monday would give him the most wins on any course. He also has seven wins at Bay Hill and Firestone. Sam Snead won the Greater Greensboro Open eight times, but only four times on one course.
Woods attributed his lead to "the whole package."
"I've driven the ball well, I've hit my irons well, and I've chipped and putted well," he said. "Well, I've hit good putts. They all haven't gone in."
Woods had superb control of his tee shots and was rarely out of position on a day that began under a light drizzle and soon gave way to patchy clouds and clear views of the Pacific surf below the bluffs.
Starting with a two-shot lead, he stretched that quickly with a tap-in birdie on the second hole and a beautiful tee shot to a left pin on the downhill par 3 to about 4 feet. The South Course played even longer with the soft conditions, and only seven players broke 70. Aaron Baddeley had the lowest score of the round with a 68.
Woods managed to stretch his lead with pars, though he was always on the attack because of his position in the fairway.
He missed a downhill birdie putt from 4 feet on the par-5 ninth, and then came back with a wedge that landed near the hole at No. 10 and spun back next to the cup before it settled 4 feet away for a birdie putt that he made.
He led by as many as six strokes in the third round until Fritsch birdied the last hole and Woods, playing in the group behind, ran into trouble. His tee shot rolled up near the lip of the bunker, and he advanced it 70 yards into deep rough. He swung hard through the thick, wet grass into a greenside bunker, and then missed his 8-foot par putt.
Still, it was an ominous sign.
One week after he missed the cut in Abu Dhabi - thanks to a two-shot penalty he received after his round for taking relief from an embedded lie on the fifth hole when the rules didn't allow for it - he looked as good as ever.

"As I said, I didn't play that poorly," Woods said of his short week in the Middle East. "I played well enough to be there on the weekend, and could have gotten two more rounds competitively, but I didn't really play poorly. I thought I did a lot of good things. Just wanted to continue that this week, and I have."
Woods has a 49-4 record on the PGA Tour when he has at least a share of the 54-hole lead, and it's even more daunting when the lead is his alone. The only two players to come from behind to beat him over the final 18 holes were Ed Fiori in the Quad City Classic in 1996 when Woods was a 20-year-old rookie, and Y.E. Yang in the 2009 PGA Championship a Hazeltine.
In worldwide events, Thomas Bjorn (Dubai), Lee Westwood (Germany) and Graeme McDowell (Chevron World Challenge) have made up deficits against him on the last day.

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U.S. Open to return to Winged Foot in 2020

Published: Sunday, January 27, 2013 | 09:22:17 PM

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MICHAEL CONROY / AP
Phil Mickelson double-bogeyed the final of the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.



The U.S. Open is returning to Winged Foot, the New York club with a history of clutch moments and one unforgettable collapse.
The U.S. Golf Association will announce Monday that the West Course at Winged Foot will host the 2020 U.S. Open. Only two other courses - Oakmont and Baltusrol - will have held the national championship more times.
"Winged Foot offers a spectacular setting in a dynamic market, and has justifiably earned its reputation as one of the premier U.S. Open venues in the nation," said Thomas O'Toole Jr., vice president of the USGA and head of its championship committee. "And it joins an impressive lineup of future U.S. Open Championship locations that players and fans alike can eagerly anticipate."
Winged Foot was designed by A.W. Tillinghast in 1923 and hosted its first U.S. Open six years later, when amateur Bobby Jones delivered one of the biggest shots in championship history with a 12-foot putt on the final hole to force a 36-hole playoff. He won the next day by 23 shots over Al Espinosa.
The most recent trip to Winged Foot was memorable for all the wrong reasons - not for Geoff Ogilvy winning with a superb up-and-down from below the 18th green, but for Phil Mickelson blowing his best chance ever to win the U.S. Open.

Mickelson had a one-shot lead when his drive bounced off corporate tents to the left of the 18th fairway. He went for the green and his 3-iron struck a tree and dropped straight down, his next shot plugged in a bunker and he make double bogey to lose by one. "I am such an idiot," he famously said that day.
Mickelson referenced that moment just five days ago when discussing his mistake to go public with being unhappy about how much he days in taxes.
Winged Foot also is where former USGA President Sandy Tatum offered the defining comment for the U.S. Open. "Our intention is not to embarrass the greatest players in the world, but to identify them," he said in 1974, when Hale Irwin won at 7-over 287.
Billy Casper won his first U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 1959. Fuzzy Zoeller won in 1984 in a playoff over Greg Norman, who holed a long putt across the 18th green for par. Zoeller, thinking the Shark had made birdie, jokingly waved a white towel. It only got Norman into a Monday playoff, and the next day, Zoeller won so handily that Norman waved a white towel walking up the final fairway.
Winged Foot doesn't have a history of dull moments.
The Westchester course is known for the severe slopes on the greens and deep bunkers and doglegs along the tree-lined fairways. USGA executive director Mike Davis was in charge of setting up the Open for the first time at Winged Foot in 2006. He referred to Winged Foot as a "quintessential U.S. Open golf course."
"Winged Foot offers the best players in the world a spectacular test of golf and delivers to spirited New York golf fans one of the most exciting venues in the game," he said.
The U.S. Open returns this year to Merion, and then will go to Pinehurst No. 2 (2014), Chambers Bay (2015), Oakmont (2016), Erin Hills (2017), Shinnecock Hills (2018), Pebble Beach (2019) and then Winged Foot.
"I think it's great," Ogilvy said about the return to Winged Foot. "I'm excited for the club. It's one of the best clubs in America for that sort of thing. It's a true golf club in the original sense. They love playing golf. The courses are super busy. You meet Winged Foot members everywhere and they can't say enough about it. And it's got such a great history, really."

[OnePiece]

Caroline Hedwall wins New South Wales Open

Published: Sunday, January 27, 2013 | 01:30:08 AM

SYDNEY (AP) -- Sweden's Caroline Hedwall won the New South Wales Open on Sunday, closing with a 4-under 68 for a two-stroke victory over defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand.
Hedwall finished at 13-under 203 on the Oatlands course. Ko, the 15-year-old amateur who won the Canadian Open last year, shot a 69.
The South Korea-born Ko became the youngest player, female or male, to win a professional tour event when she won the New South Wales Open last year at 14. Ko went on to finish as the leading amateur at the U.S. Women's Open in July, won the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in August and took the Canadian Open to become the youngest LPGA Tour winner.

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Fog delays third round at Torrey Pines, Monday finish likely

Published: Saturday, January 26, 2013 | 02:50:09 PM

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Kohjiro Kinno/SI
Fog kept players off the course Saturday at Torrey Pines.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Tiger Woods is going to have to wait to pursue another win at Torrey Pines.
A thick fog shrouded the course along the Pacific bluffs on Saturday and essentially wiped out the entire day at the Farmers Insurance Open. Woods, a six-time winner of this tournament, had a two-shot lead and never even bothered coming to the golf course. Three players completed one hole - and that was after a three-hour delay.
Players were to resume the third round Sunday morning and go as long as daylight allowed, and then finish Monday.
And that's a best-case scenario.
In a bizarre twist, tour officials were hopeful of rain and a little wind Sunday morning, two elements that most golfers dread. That's what is needed, however, to keep the fog away from Torrey Pines and allow the tournament to resume.



"When Mother Nature doesn't want you to play, you can't play,'' said Mark Russell, the tour vice president of competition.
They did just about everything else.
Lucas Glover warmed up three times, at one point passed the time with a little trickery. He lined up two balls in the direction of the range, and hit them with a wedge so that one ball went straight in the air, and Jerry Kelly took a baseball swing with an inverted club and made contact.
Through four tournaments this year, the PGA Tour already had had its share of weather problems. This will be the second tournament that doesn't finish on the scheduled day. The Tournament of Champions at Kapalua didn't even start until Monday, the day it was supposed to end, because of 40 mph gusts. It had to be reduced to 54 holes and was completed on Tuesday.
Woods was at 11-under 133 and didn't need to come to the course with all the delays because he was in the last group with Billy Horschel and Casey Wittenberg. Horschel spent part of his day getting advice through text messages on how to play with Woods.
He'll get to see plenty of Woods over the next two days.
Russell said there would not be a 54-hole cut for 87 players - typically there is a cut when the field is more than 78 players on Saturday. Instead, they will take a short lunch break and go back out, racing time when fog allows. The groups will stay the same until the tournament is over.
"I think the coolest thing that can come from it is that I think it looks like we're going to be paired together for 36 holes,'' Horschel said. "So it's a pretty cool thing that's going to happen. It's just going to be a fun day tomorrow and Monday. So we'll see how it goes.''
Horschel also is among 17 players who are entered in the qualifier Monday to get into the Phoenix Open, which starts next week. Russell said those players have been given the latest tee times for the qualifier - the latest is 1:36 p.m. MST - with hopes of getting there.
Saturday began with a 30-minute delay that soon stretched into three hours, and the sun broke through the clouds as Hunter Mahan, Robert Garrigus and John Mallinger teed off on the 10th hole at the South Course. Five minutes later, the horn sounded. Because it was for weather, they were able to finish the hole.


Mahan's caddie took a picture of the 11th tee, a 216-yard par 3, and the visibility was no more than 50 yards.
It never got any better.
"That little bit of sun we did get today was overpowered by just the saturation of the atmosphere, so we just couldn't overcome it today,'' said Stewart Williams, the tour's meteorologist.
Defending champion Brandt Snedeker, seven shots out of the lead, was among those who had the longest day. He was up at 5 a.m., arrived in darkness, warmed up in the fog and never hit a shot.
"It's tough when you prepare one day, and then it's one of those days where preparation is going to be kind of thrown off,'' he said. "But we have these days from time to time. We kind of know what to do to keep your mind fresh and ready to go. You realize it's a different week, and could be a Monday finish now and be ready for that.''
Woods won in 2005 at Torrey Pines when fog interrupted the tournament, though it was completed on Sunday. The last time this event was shortened to 54 holes because of weather was in 1998.
Russell said the Farmers Insurance Open will go 72 holes. He just couldn't promise when 84 players could get to the 37th hole of the tournament. Without rain, there was the chance of more fog Sunday morning.
"If we say we're not going to play because we might have fog in the morning, and we didn't have fog, we'd have tremendous problems,'' he said. "So we're going to schedule it, and hopefully, we won't have fog and we can play golf. That's all we can do. If Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, we don't have very much control over that. We're going to be out here, ready to play, and see what happens.''

[OnePiece]

Wood wins Qatar Masters with eagle at 18th

Published: Saturday, January 26, 2013 | 09:10:07 AM

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Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Chris Wood eagled the 18th for his first European Tour victory.



DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- Chris Wood eagled the 18th hole to win the Qatar Masters for his first European Tour victory Saturday, overtaking Sergio Garcia and George Coetzee, who finished a shot back.
The 142nd-ranked Englishman shot 200 yards to the green with a 6-iron and watched the ball roll to within 12 feet. Wood calmly sank the putt to finish the final round at 3-under 69 for an overall 18-under 270. Garcia and Coetzee had looked set for at least a two-man playoff after both birdied the last hole.
"Winning on the European Tour is not easy,'' said Wood, who earned a victory in his 115th tour event. "It was a nice way to finish. It feels good to pick up the trophy. I've been waiting patiently for my turn and fortunately it came today,''
Wood came into the final day with a three-shot lead over former U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell, Simon Khan and Alexander Noren after the third round.
But Wood almost threw the victory away early, after he missed a birdie putt on No. 2 and then double-bogeyed the par-3 third.
The 48th-ranked Coetzee, also looking for his first European Tour win, had three birdies on the final four holes on the front nine and then eagled the 10th to take a two-shot lead. Garcia got into the hunt with his much-improved short game, with six birdies on his final 11 holes.
Wood recovered with some clutch putting down the stretch. The win moves Wood into the top 60.

[OnePiece]

Woods takes the lead going into weekend at Torrey

Published: Saturday, January 26, 2013 | 04:20:07 AM

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Stan Badz/Getty Images
Tiger Woods is seeking his eighth professional win at Torrey Pines.



SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Tiger Woods cared more about the number of rounds left at Torrey Pines than the number of PGA Tour wins belonging to the guys chasing him.
When the second round ended Friday in a steady rain at the Farmers Insurance Open, the odds looked to be stacked in Woods' favor. He had a 7-under 65 on the North Course for his first outright 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour in more than three years. He is a seven-time winner at Torrey Pines, six of those in this tournament. And his 74 career wins on tour were 74 more than the next seven guys behind him.
"We've got a long way to go," Woods said after finishing his two rounds at 11-under 133.
Woods knows this from experience.


His three-shot win in the 2009 Buick Open was tougher than it looked on paper, only because Woods had everything to lose. He was expected to win. Of the 13 players within five shots of his slim lead going into the last round, only one of them - Ben Crane at No. 73 - was ranked inside the top 100 in the world.
Golf gets deeper every year, and it doesn't get any easier to win.
Then again, Woods is playing some pretty good golf.
He effectively missed only one fairway on the easier North Course in the second round. He is leading the field in driving distance at 318.5 yards, remarkable given the wet conditions from the rain and Torrey Pines being at sea level. He is 9 under on the par 5s, with five birdies and two eagles over the last two days.
Woods seized control Friday around the turn, when he played four holes in 5-under par - a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th, a 5-iron to 5 feet for eagle on No. 18, a two-putt birdie on the first, and a wedge that one-hopped against the pin and settled about 5 feet away for another birdie.
"Vintage (at)TigerWoods today," Dustin Johnson said on Twitter after finishing eight shots behind.
Woods had a two-shot lead over Billy Horschel, who only two months ago was in Q-school trying to get his PGA Tour card again. Horschel finished strong on the South Course for a 69 and was thrilled when he looked at the leaderboard. He was at 9-under 135, and Woods was the only name ahead of him. That meant he would be in the final group with Woods, joined by Web.com Tour grad Casey Wittenberg, who had a 67 on the North.
"It's a good day and I'm excited about tomorrow - I get to play with Tiger," Horschel said. "I found out when I tapped in for par. I realized he was leading and I was in second place. So yeah, looking forward to that."


Horschel wades into a big world Saturday, but he believes he has the experience from when he played the Walker Cup in 2007 at Royal County Down.
"There was a guy I competed against three times called Rory McIlroy," Horschel said. "So there may have been 10, 12,000 people following us, and only a couple thousand following the rest of the groups. So I've dealt with crowds. I guess it's a little bit easier playing with Tiger because I guess the group ahead, they move a lot or something. Just hearing what media says. It's going to be exciting."
Brad Fritsch, a rookie from Canada, had a 67 on the South Course to lead the group of six players at 8-under 136. The others were Wittenberg, Steve Marino, Jimmy Walker, Josh Teater and Erik Compton, whom Woods referred to as "remarkable" for being a two-time heart transplant recipient and playing on the PGA Tour.
Defending champion Brandt Snedeker didn't fare so well. After opening with a 65 on the North, he made only one birdie and twice took bogey on the par 5s on his way to a 75 that left him seven shots behind. K.J. Choi, who had a 65 on the South Course, couldn't break par on the easier North and had a 73 to fall five behind.
Phil Mickelson struggled to keep his hands dry in the wet weather and finished bogey-bogey on the South for a 71 to make the cut on the number, though his work isn't over. There were 87 players who made the cut at 1-under 143, meaning there will be another cut to top 70 and ties Saturday.
Mike Weir, meanwhile, made the cut for the first time since July 2011 despite a sloppy finish for a 75 on the South. He was tied for 41st at 3-under 141.
Woods is coming off a missed cut in Abu Dhabi last week to start his year.
"I've had beautiful practice sessions at home," he said. "If I can do it there, I can do it out here. Even though last week I played only two days, I felt like I hit the ball well enough to shoot a better score than I did. I had a couple of days to work on it, and I came out here and felt pretty good about it."
The final two rounds move to the South Course, which played about 1 1/2 shots harder Friday in the rain. The greens are more receptive, sure, but the course figures to play at full length in wet conditions and at sea level.


For Woods, it was his first outright lead going into the weekend against a full field since the Australian Open in 2011 (he finished third at The Lakes), and his first time atop the leaderboard at Torrey Pines since 2008. Then again, he has only played one time at this event since then when he was just starting to change his swing.
And while this looks ominous for everyone else, Woods with a 36-hole lead - even at Torrey Pines - doesn't mean this is over. He had a 34-10 record when he has at least a share of the 36-hole lead, though he has failed to win four of the last six times from that spot.

[OnePiece]

Tiger Woods atop the leaderboard at Torrey Pines

Published: Friday, January 25, 2013 | 06:01:02 PM

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Kohjiro Kinno/SI
Tiger Woods made an eagle, six birdies and a bogey on Friday.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Tiger Woods made one last birdie as the rain picked up strength Friday, and what he left behind was a gloomy forecast for everyone else at Torrey Pines.
He had a two-shot lead at the tournament he already has won six times.
He is driving the ball long and straight, just what he needs to handle the par 5s - he has played them in 9 under so far.
And when it comes to experience, he has a 74-0 advantage in PGA Tour wins against the next seven guys on the leaderboard.
Woods knows better than to chalk up another win in the Farmers Insurance Open, so when asked about his name atop the leaderboard after a 7-under 65 on the North Course, he was quick to point out, "We have a long way to go.''


Even so, this had all the trappings of another Tiger show at Torrey Pines.
Woods didn't miss a shot during a four-hole stretch around the turn on the North Course that included a 5-iron to 5 feet for eagle and a wedge that one-hopped off the pin to set up birdie. It carried him to a two-shot lead over Billy Horschel going into the weekend.
Asked whether he played better when everything was going well in his life, Woods waited out the long question with a short answer.
"I feel good right now,'' said Woods, who was at 11-under 133. "I'm leading the tournament.''
Horschel, who had to go back to Q-school to get his card last year, had a 69 on the South Course to get into the final group.
"It's a good day and I'm excited about tomorrow - I get to play with Tiger,'' Horschel said. "I found out when I tapped in for par. I realized he was leading and I was in second place. So yeah, looking forward to that.''
For Woods, it was his first outright lead going into the weekend against a full field since the Australian Open in 2011 (he finished third at The Lakes), and his first time atop the leaderboard at Torrey Pines since 2008. Then again, he has only played one time at this event since then when he was just starting to change his swing.
And while this looks ominous for everyone else, Woods with a 36-hole lead - even at Torrey Pines - doesn't mean this is over. He had a 34-10 record when he has at least a share of the 36-hole lead, though he has failed to win four of the last six times from that spot.
"Vintage (at)TigerWoods today,'' Dustin Johnson said on Twitter after finishing eight shots behind.
Woods caught a break in the draw by playing the easier North - it's about 600 yards shorter - on a day of light rain, a late breeze and soft conditions. But he kept the ball in play off the tee, and he only got in trouble once. That was on the par-4 eighth hole when he drove into a tough lie in the bunker, and it led to his only bogey.
There's a simple formula for playing the North - make birdie on the par 5s and pick up a few more on the short par 4s. And that's just what he did.


Woods missed birdie putts inside 8 feet on the opening two holes and was taking baby steps until he took off. It started with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th. He followed with the 5-iron that landed just left of the pin on the 18th, a two-putt birdie on the par-5 first hole, and his wedge that took one hop, struck the flag and settled 4 feet away.
"Drive the ball well here and you're going to probably have four iron shots into the par 5s,'' Woods said. "You sprinkle that in with probably four or five wedge shots in there, a round of 6- or 7-under par is definitely conceivable.''
Brad Fritsch, a rookie from Canada, had a 67 on the South Course to lead the group of six players at 8-under 136. The others were Casey Wittenberg, Steve Marino, Jimmy Walker, Josh Teater and Erik Compton, whom Woods referred to as "remarkable'' for being a two-time heart transplant recipient and being on the PGA Tour.
Defending champion Brandt Snedeker didn't fare so well. After opening with a 65 on the North, he made only one birdie and twice took bogey on the par 5s on his way to a 75 that left him seven shots behind. K.J. Choi, who had a 65 on the South Course, couldn't break par on the easier North and had a 73 to fall five behind.
Phil Mickelson struggled to keep his hands dry in the wet weather and finished bogey-bogey on the South for a 71 to make the cut on the number, though his work isn't over. There were 87 players who made the cut at 1-under 143, meaning there will be another cut to top 70 and ties Saturday.
Mike Weir, meanwhile, made the cut for the first time since July 2011 despite a sloppy finish for a 75 on the South. He was tied for 41st at 3-under 141.
Woods is coming off a missed cut in Abu Dhabi last week to start his year.
"I've had beautiful practice sessions at home,'' he said. "If I can do it there, I can do it out here. Even though last week I played only two days, I felt like I hit the ball well enough to shoot a better score than I did. I had a couple of days to work on it, and I came out here and felt pretty good about it.''
The final two rounds move to the South Course, which played about 1 1/2 shots harder Friday in the rain. The greens are more receptive, sure, but the course figures to play at full length in wet conditions and at sea level.
"It was amazing how different it played from Wednesday,'' Walker said. "I played the pro-am here on Wednesday on the South, and you could hardly stop a ball. And today, it didn't matter if you hit a 3-iron in there, it would just stop immediately. You could spin wedges. So it was a lot different, and it played a lot longer too.''
Not only have the seven players behind Woods not won on tour, four of them had to get cards this year through either Q-school or the Web.com Tour.
But with 36 holes left, more than just those seven are still in the mix. Nick Watney played the first two rounds with Woods was only four shots behind, along with Ross Fisher of England. Charles Howell III, who has tied for third and lost in a playoff in his two starts this year, had a 72 on the South and was five shots behind.
Horschel wades into a big world Saturday, but he believes he has the experience from when he played the Walker Cup in 2007 at Royal County Down.
There was a guy I competed against three times called Rory McIlroy,'' Horschel said. "So there may have been 10, 12,000 people following us, and only a couple thousand following the rest of the groups. So I've dealt with crowds. I guess it's a little bit easier playing with Tiger because I guess the group ahead, they move a lot or something. Just hearing what media says. It's going to be exciting.''