At the summit of the 76 players who teed it up at Firestone this week, we have at the top a posse of four. Our own golfing Rat Pack if you like. First day leader Adam Scott, coming off his bogey free round of 62 from Thursday, held it together to hold his position with an even par 70. Adam, longtime noted as one of the sweetest swingers in the game has continued his career resurgence during 2011, having finally found the secret to his long maligned putting problems. The long putter, may look ugly, and there are even convincing arguments for it to be removed from the game altogether, but there is no question that Adam Scott has found the feel of it and it is paying dividends within his game. Adam combined with the experience of Stevie Williams, and with his new found putting brilliance, added to his already exemplary long game, will stick around in contention throughout the weekend.
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| Adam Scott with Steve Williams on Friday |
He was joined at the top on Friday by the sharp dressed, former decorated Amateur Champion, Ryan Moore whose excellent second consecutive round of 66, included 7 birdies and 3 bogeys, which illustrated that although consistency may not be his greatest facet, Moore's putting prowess offers him the ability to convert the birdie chances that Firestone can offer you. He was joined as the morning star by his fellow countryman, Rickie Fowler. The extremely talented Fowler, produced an excellent round of 64 on Friday morning, which was highlighted by a holed approach shot from 109 yards on the 3rd. Rickie displayed fantastic form at Royal St Georges last month, when his excellent shot making skills kept him right in contention at the Open Championship until the back nine on Sunday. The Oklahoma State University alumnus has been long labelled as the next start of American golf. Still without a Tour victory to his name, a win this weekend for Rickie would dispell doubts of his ability to hold on for a clutch win.
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| Rickie Fowler looking for his first win |
Those three protagonists will take to the course as the final trio in Saturday's third round, which has been brought significantly forward in order to avoid disruption from expected thunderstorms. However, the not to be forgotten Keegan Bradley is also tied for the lead going into 'moving day,' and coming off his recent rookie season title at the Byron Nelson, Keegan has the tools in his locker to stick in contention over the weekend and shouldn't be discounted as a potential champion come Sunday.
These four leaders, outwith Scott who is at the positively ancient age of 31, are all in their 20s and hungry for success.They are also very representative of the majority of the chasing pack. This chasing pack headlined by the talented Scot, Martin Laird, winner of the Anrold Palmer Invitational in March, and the exceptional Aussie, Jason Day, who has finished 2nd at both the Masters and US Open this year, are all part of the youthful international flavour that has so far dominated this Bridgestone Invitational. The likes of Japanese superstar, Ryo Ishikawa, whose image has been transformed following a ruthless headshave, and the young US stars, Brandt Snedeker and Gary Woodland, continue the young scene at the top. Rory McIlroy, who made the headlines earlier in the week with his declared 2012 playing intentions, is quietly 4 shots back, even after suffering a frustratingly cold putter. Indeed, Robert Karlsson and Fredrik Jacobsen are the exceptions, and must feel middle aged on the leaderboard, but this group of players generally emphasise a fascinating and now changed face of the game.
10 years ago the game was obviously dominated by Tiger Woods, along with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen who were fighting for relative scraps of success. Now that has completely changed. We have a game, arguably more exciting, without a dominant force. Full of young, powerful international stars all capable of lifting a WGC, or indeed, a Major title. This leaderboard is a representation of that shift in the makeup in golf, which has been seen when looking at recent Major Championship winners, and the World Golf Rankings. Yes, this has been known and obvious for some time, but this fortnight, including the upcoming PGA, could finally make it sink in to some people, that the 'New Breed' has taken over.
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| Tiger - Swinging Well |
But of course, I couldn't have written this piece without mentioning the returning performance of Tiger Woods. Rounds of 68 and 71 leave him 7 shots behind and in tied 36th place. You need to break those scores down to truly analyse his performance so far, and it is then that you realise that this has been a great comeback for him. He is driving the ball excellently. He has missed fairways, but few have been massive wides, and they are nowhere as bad as the swings we saw during his truly humbling +18 total here 12 months ago. It must also be remembered that the fairways at Firestone are not exactly the widest, so statistics can be misleading. As Tiger said following his round of 71 on Friday: "I know my statistics don't show it but I am driving the ball so much better. My start lines are so much tighter and the shape of my shots is so much tighter,'' Declaring obvious confidence in his progress, he went on to say. "I'm so close to putting the ball on a string. So it's coming."
His iron shots have been generally very solid, and impressively he found his distance control in the second round. The putter, which was hot on day one, was lukewarm on Friday and that killed any chance he had of shooting a second consecutive round under par. However, outwith finding consistency, which will come with time following his 12 week layoff, this has been an impressive performance from Tiger. Expect a strong weekend from the 14 times Major Champion, as he goes into next weeks PGA Championship, looking for a 15th, and surely a contender.
It's going to be an exciting weekend at Firestone!
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