Woods rolls back the years to top a leaderboard once again
American takes outright lead before late bogey Casey in contention but Mcilroy misses cut again
Tiger Woods did not get to gaze at his name commanding the top rung of a leaderboard once more, yet it is fair to suggest that everyone in golf – and so many more beyond – did not miss out on this magical sight.
Indeed, as the 14-time major winner moved to five-under and the outright lead at the Valspar Championship, a frisson burst through the sport.
The game was transported back in time, to moments the overwhelming majority believed it would never witness again. Woods out in front; the rest behind. And it really does not have to be a mirage, despite the final-hole bogey that put him into a group on four-under, including England’s Paul Casey, who were two strokes behind the leader, Corey Conners of Canada. This was no fluke. In fact, after Woods’s 12th place at the Honda Classic two weeks ago, this should have been expected.
But still, it seemed surreal after all the 42-year-old has gone through.
This was only his 12th competitive round since his make-or-break spinal fusion last May, but he outscored both of his playing partners, Henrik Stenson and Jordan Spieth, by 10 and nine shots respectively over the first two rounds in Tampa Bay.
Later Rory Mcilroy missed the cut – his second in four events. Woods must be secretly laughing at the chaotic reality. “Today was a good day, although I played well at the Honda and it was just a matter of cleaning up a few things,” Woods said. “I’m in with a chance to win on the weekend.” Whatever happens in the next two days, or at the Arnold Palmer next week, Woods is going to be a huge story, the story at the Masters in four weeks’ time. After winning his first event in five years at the WGC Mexico last week, Phil Mickelson quipped that he expected Woods to break his own five-year void this week, “just to one-up me again”.
That possibility was put into stark focus when he went through his first nine in two-under and then birdied the second (his 11th) and fifth (his 14th) to grab the solo lead.
It was a big moment, but Woods missed it. “I never got a chance,” he said, explaining that the screens around the green did not show the scoreboard. No matter; he gave a fist pump fitting of the occasion when holing a 12-footer on the seventh (his 16th). However, his bogeyless run could not last with that error on the ninth to finish with a 68.
Casey shot the same – with Justin Rose one back on three-under – but both would have understood the focus was concentrated elsewhere.