In his second round at the AT&T National, Tiger Woods shot a solid 3-under-par 68 to put himself three shots behind the leaders, Jimmy Walker and Brendon de Jonge.
Congressional’s Blue course, where the tournament is taking place, is currently playing especially difficult and fast. Also, the extreme heat in addition to the quick greens and thick rough are creating very tough scoring conditions for the players. The harsh playing conditions of the course had a usually over-achieving Woods saying, “I thought my 68 was a very good score today.”
Woods started the second round from the back nine where he started off on a roll, making four consecutive pars. On the 14th hole, Woods saw his first bit of trouble as he drove his tee-shot into the thick rough giving him a tough second shot that he left 76 yards short of the green. From there, however, Woods would hit a good approach shot to put himself within scoring range of the hole, and one-putt to save par.
After a similar up-and-down par on the 15th hole, Woods had a highlight moment on the 16th where he sunk a 48 foot putt to make eagle and put himself 1-under par for the tournament.
Woods concluded his first nine holes at one under par, but would remain there only very shortly as he made his first bogey of the day on the first hole of his back nine. However, he would not stay at even par for much longer either as a couple of birdies on the fifth, eighth, and ninth holes put him at a contending position, 3 under par for the tournament.
The grueling conditions of the golf course made the tournament just as much a mental contest as it was a physical one, given how the six to seven hour outings called for incredible focus and stamina, areas in which Woods is known to be deadly.
“Certainly running all those miles and lifting all those weights comes into play when you have weather like this on consecutive days.”
With two rounds of strenuous golf remaining, the tournament is still any player’s to take, but with years of experience and a dominant mind in situations like these, Tiger Woods is definitely one to keep an eye on.
