The Players Championship started much as it did Friday, with play delayed shortly after it had started. Thankfully the weather cleared up enough for play to resume for a while until interrupted by darkness. Among those delayed by the coming of night was first round leader Steve Jones who finished the day tied for first after nine holes. Seventy one players will show up at 7:30am Sunday morning to complete round two.
Among the best performances of the day came from Joe Durant who finished with seven birdies and an eagle to finish tied for first. He dropped strokes on holes one and five but finished with a seven-under 65. Durant’s favorite hole of the day might well have been the par-five 11th where he posted eagled on an 11-foot putt. Co-leader Lee Westwood looked like he was feeling confident as he finished his day with a 69. That was good enough to nudge him into a tie for first with Joe Durant and first round leader Steve Jones.
Zach Johnson, who was tied for second after day one, fell two spots to fourth. His two double boegys took the punch out of six birdies. Rounding out the top five was Luke Donald, whose highlights included blasting in from sand at the par-three third for birdie. Donald will finish round two Sunday morning.
Although the slot for the number one golfer in the world is up again at Sawgrass the big for were strangely silent. Mickelson is at four under (T26) after nine holes today, Singh shot a dissapointing 74 (T38) after a solid first round, Woods stands at three under (T38), and Els shot his second 71 (T55) of the weekend. While you might say that a couple of these guys are within striking distance, they will need to play superhuman golf to end up close on the final day of this tournament.
It doesn’t seem to matter if it is the east or west coast, weather is a factor early in this year’s PGA Tour. If the skies stay clear, Monday could likely be the last day of The Players Championship. If there are many more delays the tournament could well go into Tuesday. The last time that happened was at the 1980 Joe Garagiola-Tuscon Open and that may be what it takes to wrap things up at Sawgrass. Officials seem committed to seeing this tournament through to the end without shortening it to 36 holes. That seems fitting in light of the 8 million dollar purse. I’d like to see the winner gut it out for 72 holes and earn his keep.
Pos Player Tot R1 R2 Tot T1 Lee Westwood -10 65 69 134 T1 Joe Durant -10 69 65 134 T1 Steve Jones -10 64 - 64 T4 Zach Johnso -9 65 70 135 T4 Luke Donald -9 66 - 66 T6 Fred Funk -7 65 72 137 T6 Adam Scott -7 69 68 137 T6 Vaughn Taylor -7 70 67 137 T6 Graeme McDowell -7 71 66 137 T6 Padraig Harrington -2 67 - 67
Photo Credit: © AP.