Petrovic hoping for strong weekend, two Playoff berths  PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The birthday celebration Thursday night was decidedly low-key. A barbeque outside the RV. Homemade cards from his two daughters. A couple of new video games and movies to add to his collection. Tim Petrovic could have a much bigger celebration come Sunday, though. The 41-year-old enters the third round of the Wyndham Championship at 11 under and one stroke out of the lead held by Jeff Overton, John Huston and Steve Marino in the $5 million event.  Tim Petrovic is hoping to celebrate his recent 41st birthday with a win. (WireImage)
Petrovic is tied with Carl Pettersson, the well-traveled Swede who went to high school in Greensboro and now lives in Raleigh, N.C., and Greg Kraft. Petrovic had the day's low round of 65 to move from a tie for 26th into a share of second place. The $900,000 first-place prize is nearly double what Petrovic has earned this year. Not to mention, he could conceivably move to No. 31 in the FedExCup standings with those 4,500 points that go to the winner after starting the week at No. 124. Only the top 144 in the standings get to start the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup next week at The Barclays and only 120 are safe the following week when the Deutsche Bank Championship begins. The field then is pared to the low 70 for the BMW Championship and the top 30 for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. At stake in the Playoffs is a $10 million bonus that goes to the season-long champion of the FedExCup. So doing the math -- and playing well -- is of the utmost importance. "My concern this week is get some points to make sure you're playing the first two events so you can get some points to try to get to the third one," Petrovic said. "... A lot of guys are playing week after week after week trying to get some points. " Petrovic is living proof. He had planned to skip the Canadian Open presented by Franklin Templeton Investments after playing the previous seven weeks. But he needed points, so he headed north of the border and ended up tying for 15th. Playing in Greensboro, particularly after not being eligible for last week's PGA Championship, was a no-brainer. "I like this tournament, and I certainly wasn't going to take this week off," Petrovic said. "I've been starting to play a little better. I saw some signs of life the last few weeks. My better rounds were getting better and my bad rounds were somewhere around par. "I've really be striking the ball well. I planned on playing. I like the golf course here. I wish it was a little cooler, but ..." Petrovic, though, showed no ill effects from the heat, which reached the upper 90s and felt considerably hotter due to morning rain that turned Forest Oaks Country Club into a sauna. He's made 13 birdies and an eagle during the first two rounds, while making just two bogeys and a double. Petrovic dropped three of those shots early -- in his first two holes on Thursday, in fact. But he shook it off and made seven birdies to shoot 68 and then erased any lingering bad memories with a birdie-eagle start during the second round. Several years ago, Petrovic might not have handled the frustration as well as he did on Thursday. "I wasn't mad," he said. "I was more disappointed. ... I knew there were going to be a lot of birdie opportunities out there. That's probably where I've come furthest in my golf game. I'm a lot more patient that I was eight, nine years ago. "Instead of saying, 'Oh, here we go again,' you've got to just buckle down and (remember) there's a lot of golf to play. You never know if you've going to make seven birdies, (but) if you get down on yourself, you're not giving yourself a chance." Petrovic gave himself plenty more opportunities on Friday. He got things rolling with a 12-footer at No. 1, then got a huge bonus on the 553-yard second hole when he put a 3-wood on the front of the green and coaxed an 82-footer into the cup for the eagle.
"The pin was back left, so I know from experience just smash it up the slope and just try to get it on the back tier," Petrovic said. "The greens are slow enough, just make sure you get it on the back. I hit it and clips up the hill, down the slope, up the hill. All of a sudden, it turns right in the hole and goes right in the middle. "We were off and running." Petrovic added birdie putts of 16, 4, 12, 6 and 8 feet, before finding the bunker at the par-3 17th and making his lone bogey of the day. He hit 13 of 14 fairways on Friday and 15 of 18 greens, a testament to his solid play. "I've been driving the ball really good," Petrovic said. "That's one of the reasons why I made all those birdies. I'm hitting the ball in the fairway. It's no fun hacking it out of the Bermuda onto the greens. "Even though the greens are a little slower than normal, it's been so hot there's really nothing they can do. You've got to take it for what it is, and do the best you can. Yesterday I was just really trying to focus on hitting solid putts because if you miss-hit them a little the ball will die and probably not get there. "(So I) drove the ball in the fairway and just hit really solid putts. That's probably the thing I did best." And just what he needs to continue to do this weekend. |
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