The Daily Wrap-up, Round 2: SBS Championship
KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) -- The flags were surprisingly still, the Pacific Ocean missing the raging white caps so typical this time of the year with the trade wind. That was all the evidence U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover needed to realize he'd better keep making birdies.
Glover had another good stretch in the middle of his round Friday that sent him to an 8-under 65 in the SBS Championship, giving him the lowest 36-hole score at Kapalua in five years and a three-shot lead going into the weekend.
Even at 15-under 131, and in a tropical paradise, this is no time for Glover to relax.
John Rollins had a 66 and was three shots behind, followed by defending champion Geoff Ogilvy (66), Sean O'Hair (67), Matt Kuchar (68) and Martin Laird (68) at 11-under 135.
"I'm pretty aggressive, anyway, so I'm going to have to pick my spots," Glover said. "I'm going to have to make some birdies. These guys are the best players in the world, and they're going to be coming after me."
The conditions have been so pristine over two days along the Maui coastline that everyone in the 28-man field was at par or better. And with the Plantation Course at Kapalua as defenseless as ever, 11 players were tied for the lead at one point early in the second round.
Glover changed that quickly.
He ran off three straight birdies, all of them inside 8 feet, then made a par that felt like a birdie. His tee shot found the bunker at No. 8 and rolled so far back that it was close to the front lip, forcing Glover to stand outside the sand. He blasted out to 12 feet and holed the putt, putting him in a good frame of mind heading to the ninth tee.
Glover hit 3-wood to 12 feet for eagle, then hit a wedge to 4 feet on the 10th for an easy birdie.
Just like that, he was back in control, and Glover made sure he stayed there with a few more birdies late in his round, including a wedge that bounced off the flag at the 16th and settled next to the cup.
O'Hair noticed Glover at 11 under when he walked off the 13th green. The next time he saw a leaderboard along the 17th fairway, he saw Glover at 14 under, and everyone else moving up a couple of notches, too.
"There's quite a few players out there that can win this thing and are playing some nice golf," O'Hair said.
Most of them are being pampered beyond a free room at the Ritz-Carlton, where the butler-drawn baths are among the amenities. Glover was driving along the roads framed by cook pines, gazing at the still Pacific, and knew this week would be a treat for golfers.
"We were talking about this at breakfast," he said. "Nobody who's been to Hawaii has seen it this calm. This is nice for us. We get to be a little more aggressive. Club selection is a lot easier. I wouldn't mind seeing it come up and having some goofy stuff go on, just for fun."
Glover had the lowest 36-hole score at Kapalua since Vijay Singh also was at 131 in 2005. The record was a 17-under 129 by Ernie Els in 2003, when he set a PGA TOUR record at 31 under for a 72-hole event.
More wind might make a three-shot lead feel like nothing. Even in peaceful conditions, Glover realizes he has a long way to go.
"It'll be hard to catch him if he's playing as well as he is," Ogilvy said. "But he's going to have to keep playing well. In the wind, four or five shots can disappear. But if he's even par on the front nine, three-fourths of that lead could be gone. We all know that if the weather is benign, we have to go low."
Ogilvy played bogey-free and continues to pitch the ball cleanly, which he did last year in winning by six shots. O'Hair made a late push when he saw Glover's score, pounding a 3-wood on the final hole that set up an eagle.
Masters champion Angel Cabrera had another 68 and was five shots behind at 10-under 136, while British Open champion Stewart Cink and Kenny Perry were in the group another shot behind.
The other major winner is PGA champion Y.E. Yang, who was trying to stay in the mix until hitting into the native grass left of the 18th and eventually three-putting from 12 feet for a triple bogey and a 74, leaving him 13 shots behind.
The forecast is for moderate wind the rest of the week, and while a mere breeze if a refreshing change, it's still odd.
"You come over with the mindset the wind is going to howl," Rollins said. "If I'm home watching in on TV, guys pants are whipping in the wind, they're hitting short clubs from crazy yardages, they're defensive on every shot. To get rounds like this is fantastic."
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| Friday's best |
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The par-5 ninth hole was the easiest with a Friday scoring average of 4.250.
The par-3 eighth hole was the toughest with a Friday scoring average of 3.107.INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent John Maginnes offers these observations from Friday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
As Nick Watney walked off the 11th green Friday he gazed down into the bay where dozens of surfers were enjoying picturesque overhead swells. "Looks like fun," I remarked to Watney, who was in the middle of a solid round. He smiled and said, "Until you get slammed into the rocks." Of course there is always that possibility. The joy of golf rarely comes with the potential for death and your acceptance among your peers requires far fewer tattoos.
Watney and his playing partner Dustin Johnson have proven that they are among the best of the new breed on TOUR. After being tied for the lead for a time in the middle of their rounds, both men found tougher waters on the way to the house. On consecutive holes, Johnson abandoned -- without search -- his tee shots. On No. 14, a short par-4, Johnson blew his first drive well right of the green into an area that looks unchanged since the Jurassic period. When his provisional ball ended up hole high left of the green, he instructed the volunteers not to look for his original ball. To find it would inevitably result in an unplayable lie. Considering there would be nowhere to drop, he would have had to return to the tee and hit another drive. Once the original ball is found, the provisional ball is no longer in play. It worked, too...Johnson got his provisional up-and-down for bogey.
On the par-5 15th, Johnson hooked his drive into the forest and repeated the process. Abandon the ball, don't look, and he made bogey again. Finding his ball could have been worse. Both Watney and Johnson saw their fair share of struggles on Friday, but both managed to break par in spite of untimely bogeys and will enter the weekend at 8-under par. Unfortunately for them, that is seven shots behind Lucas Glover who shot the low round of the tournament on Friday to take a three-shot lead over John Rollins, who, by the way, was named to the Colonial Athletic Conferences silver anniversary golf team earlier this week. The VCU graduate joins only one other player from the CAA to ever make it to the PGA TOUR...but you have probably never heard of that other guy.
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