Associated Press
The golf roundup …
SAN MARTIN, Calif. ó The fog finally lifted at CordeValle and revealed a Tiger Woods that looked vaguely familiar.
Woods ran off three straight birdies early in his round, survived a rough patch around the turn and kept the stress to a minimum Friday in his round of 3-under 68 in the Frys.com Open that assured he would be around for the weekend.
“I don’t like missing cuts, period,” Woods said. “If I miss the cut, that means you can’t win the tournament on the weekend. I’ve got a shot at it this weekend.”
He still was seven shots behind Paul Casey, who is making a revival of his own.
Casey, at No. 135 on the money list and in danger of losing his PGA Tour card, has been fighting a foot injury since the middle of May. He showed signs of getting better by winning in South Korea last week, and then he got over jet lag in time to post a 7-under 64.
That put him at 8-under 134. Bud Cauley, who turned pro this summer and is trying to avoid having to go to Q-school, had a 66 and was one shot behind. Fog delayed the start of the second round by 2 hours, 20 minutes, meaning it would not finish until today.
Ernie Els, a surprise entry to this Fall Series event, made a steady move up the leaderboard and had an 8-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead on the 16th hole. He missed it and was at 7 under, and will have two holes to play Saturday.
Woods was so disgusted this his putting after his opening 73 that he went to the practice green in the chill of late afternoon after the first round and rapped 5-foot putts, sometimes using only one hand.
He also put two strips of lead tape on the bottom of his putter, and it seemed to pay off. He holed a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 14 to begin his run of three straight birdies, and all but one of his birdie putts looked to have a chance. He was missing, but not by much.
“I hit one bad putt today, and that was it,” Woods said. “Every other putt was on line.”
It was the first time since the Masters that Woods made a 36-hole cut, and the first time in two months that he broke par. That speaks only to the kind of stop-and-start year he has had, missing three months this summer to let injuries to his left leg fully heal, and missing the last seven weeks when he failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
THE WOODLANDS, Texas ó Michael Allen shot a 9-under 63 to take a three-stroke lead over John Cook after the first round of the Champions Tour’s Insperity Championship.
CHEONAN, South Korea ó U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy shot a 2-under 69 for a share of the second-round lead with Rickie Fowler, Y.E. Tang and two others in the OneAsia Tour’s Korea Open.