Firestone continues to yield low scores

AKRON — Nobody has a better Saturday scoring average on the PGA Tour than Tiger Woods, and the Bridgestone Invitational would be a good time to keep that up.

Woods might not have a choice.

Neither will Rory McIlroy, Jason Day or anyone else wanting to keep pace.

Tommy Fleetwood took advantage of another soft day of good scoring at Firestone with a 7-under-par 63. So did Justin Thomas, who was particularly sharp with his putter for a 64. They shared the lead with Ian Poulter, who followed his career-low 62 with a 67 on Friday.

They all played early and finished at 11-under 129.

No one could catch them, mainly because there was just enough breeze to cause just enough doubt.

Even so, 45 players from the 71-man field were under par, a rarity at Firestone. Woods, whose last victory was five years ago when he won this World Golf Championship event for a record eighth time, got within four shots of the lead with a tee shot to 2 feet on the par-3 12th hole. He went 1 over the rest of the way for a 68, leaving him five shots behind.

Is another Saturday move in the works?

“I’m going to have to,” Woods said. “The golf course is playing very soft, very receptive. And when you’re able to hit 5-irons and they only roll out about a foot, the guys are going to put up good scores. There’s 40-plus guys under par. That’s never the case here at Firestone. So tomorrow is going to be one of those days I’m going to have to go out there and post a low one and see what happens.”

Fleetwood, the runner-up at the U.S. Open, was most pleased to see nothing higher than 4s on his scorecard. He made it look easy, except for a few times he was slightly out of position, and hit perhaps his best shot with a 6-iron to a backleft pin that settled 3 feet below the cup.

“My irons, I just tended to hit exactly where we were picking the spots and I holed a few putts,” Fleetwood said. “You’ve got days like that where it’s going well, and you’ve just got to make the most of them.”

Day, from Westerville, had a 66 playing in the same group with Woods, and joined Kyle Stanley (68) two shots behind the leaders. McIlroy was three shots back after finishing a day of frustration with two birdies.

“I was 1 under standing on the 17th tee, and I think if I had to finish 1 under, it would have felt like the worst I could have shot today.,” McIlroy said. “So to get those two birdies on the last two holes is obviously very nice and gets a couple closer to the lead.”

Five shots back were Jon Rahm, who had a sloppy finish for a 70, Tony Finau (68) and Webb Simpson (65).

The only regret for Thomas was a mistake that didn’t cost him as much as it could have. He was in the rough off the tee at the par-5 16th and still had some 284 yards to reach the green, with a pond in front. The distance wasn’t an issue, but Thomas said later that odds were against him making a birdie, and the safer route would have been to lay up and rely on his wedge.

He hit 3-wood too far right and into the water.

“We were lucky to get up-and-down for 6, but that was a stupid decision,” Thomas said.

The rest of his game, especially with the putter, was sharp.

“It was definitely one of the better putting days I’ve had in a while,” Thomas said. “I just hit a lot of quality putts.” Tommy Fleetwood, above, shot a 63 and is tied for the lead after two rounds of the Bridgestone Invitational with Ian Poulter and Justin Thomas.