TIGER WOODS HAS gone home and the US PGA Championship is being led by Jason Dufner, who has never won a PGA Tour event, and Major new boy Keegan Bradley, heading into the final two days. Who would have predicted that?
Dufner hasn’t made a cut since May but holed a 25-foot eagle putt on the fifth hole and threw in five more birdies for a five-under 65 that put him atop the leaderboard for the first time in a major. Bradley, a tour rookie and the nephew of LPGA great Pat Bradley, did even better with a bogey-free round of 64.
They weren’t the only surprising front-runners. There were only three major winners among the top 25 — Jim Furyk, Davis Love III and Trevor Immelman, all of them with one title apiece. Journeymen D.A. Points (67) and John Senden (68) were one stroke off the lead. No-time tour winner Brandt Jobe (69) was another shot back.
Even as Steve Stricker followed up his record-tying 63 with a 74 and as Rory McIlroy made it around with a heavily taped right wrist, Woods captivated the crowd on another steamy day in Atlanta. There were times the fans wanted to cover their eyes though.
Woods blasted out of a bunker and went into the pond on the other side of the green for a double bogey. On his next hole, he hooked his drive into the trees, chipped out sideways, then hit a snap-hook back into the trees for another double bogey. At least he went out in style — one more bunker off the tee at No. 18, one more shot into the pond fronting the green.
Defending PGA champion Martin Kaymer was among three players from the top 10 in the world to miss the cut — the others were Jason Day and Dustin Johnson – along with Graeme McDowell, though the leaderboard wasn’t totally devoid of experience. Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion, emerged from his recent slump with a 65 and was in the group at 4-under 136 that included Scott Verplank.
Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, the world number one and two, are still very much in the picture. Westwood quietly pieced together a 69 and was at 1-under 139, while Donald shot 71 and was only six shots out of the lead. So was Phil Mickelson, who finished one shot behind on this course 10 years ago.
McIlroy still thinks he has a chance, too. It was big news when he showed up on the range about 30 minutes before his tee time with his right wrist taped, but it held up fine. His putting was another story. A triple bogey and killed his momentum – as he dropped eight off the pace – but not his optimism. “If I don’t think I could contend,” he said, “I probably wouldn’t be playing.”
- Reporting from AP
