Tiger woods came roaring back today and Jay Haas not only held onto but extended his first-round lead in the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, GA.
A month shy of his 51st, Jay Haas followed up his first-round 3-under 67 with an even better 4-under 66 to take a two-shot lead over Stephen Ames. Haas is the oldest man to ever qualify for the Tour Championship. “Any time I lead is a great feeling at 20, 30, 40, 50, whatever it is,” said Haas. “It’s way too early to get too excited about it. But I haven’t done it with smoke and mirrors. I’ve played solid golf, and that gives me encouragement for the weekend.”
Tiger Woods also played well. Without a stroke-play victory this year and winless in eight months, Woods fired a bogey-free 64 to end up three shots back. Some of his birdies included spectacular shotmaking, including a 210-yard 8-iron from the forest on the sixteenth. He sunk the twelve-footer as if missing the fairway by 30 yards was routine. Woods also played a low hook from the pine straw on number five to twenty feet and made the putt. “I played myself right back into the tournament,” Woods said.
Retief Goosen joined Woods at 4-under 136 with a 66. Vijay Singh, winner of nine events this year, took 35 putts and shot 73, ending a 13-round streak at par or better. Singh sits in 17th place, seven shots from Haas.
Haas parred in, but the finishing holes took the wind out of the sails of Mike Weir and Zach Johnson. Weir finished bogey-bogey-double bogey, taking four shots from just behind the 18th green to finish at two under for the tournament. Weir then took substantially more than four shots from behind the 19th green. Johnson came to the finishing holes at -5 before making triple at sixteen.
Haas has gone 11 years without winning, and says “I would sure love to do it. I dream about it.” He’s not getting ahead of himself, though: he realizes that Tiger’s name is on the leader board and that there are two rounds left to play.
Woods has been going through a series of swing changes – his second since joining the PGA Tour – and has won only one tournament this year, the Accenture Match Play Championship. “If I play my best, I’m pretty tough to beat,” said Woods. “I would like to play my best more frequently, and that’s the whole idea. That’s why you make changes. I thought that I could become more consistent and play at a higher level more often.”
“Trust me, I’ve been down this road before,” repeated Woods, who last overhauled his swing after capturing the 1997 Masters. “I’m starting to see some of the fruits now, which is great.”
The top ten look as follows:
Place Name Today Total Rounds 1 Jay Haas -4 -7 67, 66 (133) 2 Stephen Ames -4 -5 69, 66 (135) T3 Tiger Woods -6 -4 72, 64 (136) T3 Retief Goosen -4 -4 70, 66 (136) T5 Mike Weir -1 -2 69, 69 (138) T5 Jerry Kelly +1 -2 67, 71 (138) T7 Rory Sabbatini -2 -1 71, 68 (139) T7 Mark Hensby E -1 69, 70 (139) T7 Zach Johnson +1 -1 68, 71 (139) T10 Carlos Franco -2 E 72, 68 (140) T10 Darren Clarke +3 E 67, 73 (140)
ABC will be showing third-round coverage on Saturday from 12-3:30pm ET. Fourth round coverage includes an hour on ESPN2 (12:30-1:30pm ET) and four hours on ABC (1:30-5:30pm ET). The PGA Tour, naturally, has an official page for the 2004 Tour Championship.