Lazarus-like Woods shines as McIlroy falters again
TIGER WOODS roared into contention for his first win in nearly five years but Rory McIlroy insisted he won’t hit the panic button after missing the cut in the Valspar Championship in Tampa.
As a Lazarus-like Woods carded an impressive, three-under 68 to share second place on four-under-par, two shots behind unheralded Canadian Corey Conners, McIlroy struggled to a two-over 73 to miss the three-over cut by two shots.
“It’s early in the season,” McIlroy said, dismissing any concern as the Masters looms.
“It’s a long year. I’ve shown signs of good play this year already, and I just need to see a couple of good scores, and I think that will maybe give me a little boost going forward.”
His frustration contrasted sharply with Woods’ cool as the 14-time major winner (42) thrilled the thousands who packed the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort.
“I saw this three months ago,” said McIlroy, who predicted that Woods was ready to “stun the world again” in 2018 after playing him late last year.
“He’s playing great. He’s the Tiger of old in terms of the recoveries and the nearly breaks his hand off a tree and all that sort of stuff. His short game is incredible.
“He’s hitting the ball much better than he did the first couple of starts of the season.
“I’d love to be here for the weekend to be in contention, but I’ll be an interested observer watching TV over the weekend to see how it unfolds.”
He might not have won a tournament since he captured his 79th PGA Tour title in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron in 2013 but Woods was hugely encouraged by his second round.
“I feel good,” said Woods, who birdied at the 12th, 13th, second and fifth before short-siding himself at the ninth for his lone bogey of the day.
“I feel like I was playing well at Honda. It was just a matter of cleaning up a few things here and there.”
It’s a remarkable story considering he was unsure last September if he would ever play again, telling reporters at the Presidents Cup, “I don’t know what my future holds for me.”
He’s tied for second with Paul Casey, Brandt Snedeker, Ryan Palmer and Kelly Kraft, just two shots behind Web.com Tour graduate Conners (26), who shot a two-under 69 to lead on six-under par.
“Got a long way to go, 36 holes,” Woods said after his morning heroics. “I’m up there. I don’t think this will be leading but at least I’m there with a chance going into the weekend. Today was a good day.”
It was also a good day for Shane Lowry, whose 70 leaves him tied 20th on one under and on track for the solo-15th place finish he needs to qualify for the WGC-Dell Technologies Championship in a fortnight.
But it was a frustrating one for McIlroy, who had two three-putts and 32 putts in all as he followed a birdied the par-five first with bogeys at the second, seventh, ninth and 10th to slip to six-over.
While he did birdie the par-five 11th and 14th to get back to four-over, he bogeyed the par-three 15th, missing a six-footer for par to finish the day alongside the struggling Open champion Jordan Spieth on five-over.
“Iron play, timing,” McIlroy said of his problems. “I birdied 14 to get back to plus four and needed to birdie one of the last four to make the cut and then I hit an eight-iron that’s 25 yards right of the target (on 15).”
Graeme McDowell made the cut on the mark after a 72, but Pádraig Harrington missed by four after 73 left him on seven-over with Seamus Power a shot further back after a 74.
In the European Tour’s Hero Indian Open, home hero Shubhankar Sharma blasted a course record 64 to move up to second as Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo shot 68 to lead by four strokes on seven-under-par.
After clinching a Masters invitation last week, the 21-year-old was five-over par after just nine holes of his opening round but played his next 27 holes in 12-under par as Darren Clarke shot 73 to make the cut on one-over.
At Sharjah Senior Golf Masters, overnight leader Clark Dennis shot a four-under 68 and Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant a 65 to lead by two shots on 11-under par with Headfort’s Brendan McGovern tied 11th on two-under after a 70.
In amateur golf, Europe leads Asia-Pacific 11-9 heading into the final day singles in the biennial Bonallack Trophy at Doha Golf Club in Qatar.
Tramore’s Robin Dawson will lead off for Europe after earning a half with Marc Hammer in the morning fourballs and a two-hole foursomes win with the German in the afternoon.
In the Patsy Hankins Trophy, Asia-Pacific takes an unassailable 16.5-3.5 lead into the singles with Lisburn’s Paula Grant looking to bounce back from three defeats over the first two days alongside England’s Isobel Wardle.
Indian Open Sky Sports 5.30am
Valspar Chapionship Sky Sports 7.0pm