Buick Open, Round 2 (PGATOUR.com)
July 31, 2009
LOWERY LOOKING TO REGAIN LEAD (2:05 p.m.): By the time Steve Lowery teed off a little while ago, five guys had already caught or passed him on the leaderboard, despite his opening-round 63. That's what happens at the Buick Open, where birdies come in bunches and people can, will and usually do lap you if you haven't teed off.
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Lowery wasted little time, though, making a birdie on the par-5 first hole to get to 10 under and within two of current leader Michael Letzig. Yesterday, Lowery played holes 1 through 4 in 4 under with four straight birdies. Today, having started on the front nine, he has just the lone birdie on the first hole through his first five ( to follow Lowery's round live with Shot Tracker).—Brian Wacker
STRETCH RUN FOR STADLER (1:55 p.m.): Kevin Stadler has conditional status on the PGA TOUR. He can't be fussy about when or where he plays so he's not complaining about a busy stretch of tournaments.
Stadler is playing for the sixth straight week and through two rounds of the Buick Open he's finding some of his best form. He has posted successive 67s and is in at 10-under 134. That comes after a rough week at the RBC Canadian Open, where a third-round 76 ruined an otherwise reasonable performance.
"I hit it miserably last week," Stadler said. "I'm ready for a little break, ready to kind of figure out what's going on in my golf game, but I've been hitting my irons really good this week. I've just been struggling off the tee. Swapped the driver this week and found a few more fairways, so that's helped.
"Hit the fairways out here, you're going to have a ton of chances."
Even though he has hit only 50 percent of the fairways through 36 holes, it has left Stadler with some excellent chances. He has made 10 birdies and an eagle. Stadler has something even lower in mind for the weekend at the Buick Open, which usually requires something in the 20-under range from the winner.
"You know you're going to need one round of something really low," he said.—Vartan Kupelian
THATCHER NEEDS A GOOD PERFORMANCE (1:40 p.m.): The morning wave continues to have its way with Warwick Hills, where Roland Thatcher is finishing up his round and is currently 8 under on the day and 10 under for the week.
Thatcher has hit 15 of 17 greens in regulation so far with a better-than-average 25 putts. While his round won't be the lowest of his career—that was a 61 at last year's Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun—it will be the best of his season to date. Coming into this week, Thatcher had made just 3 of 9 cuts and had broken 70 just five times in 24 rounds.
Playing this year on a Major Medical after a wrist injury cut short his season last May, Thatcher has 13 events to earn just over $400,000 (coupled with his $445,000-plus earned last year) to equal the No. 125 spot on last year's money list. With just over $263,000 so far, a strong finish here, his 10th event of 2009, would obviously go a long, long way.—Brian Wacker
DALY'S DISMAL DAY (1:15 p.m.): While Tiger Woods was busy chasing the lead and shooting a 9-under 63, John Daly was going the other way and fast. After starting with two birdies in his first four holes, Daly's round quickly got away from him. He bogeyed No. 15, doubled No. 18 and made a quintuple-bogey 10 on the first hole. A quad, a triple, a double and a regular old bogey later and he was in with a 51 over his final nine holes.
For Daly, it's far and away his worst round of the year—though he did shoot an 89 in the second round of last year's British Open—and a couple of steps back from what was looking like a promising year. Is it one one bad round or a sign of things to come? We'll find out in the weeks ahead.—Brian Wacker
TAYLOR IN GOOD POSITION (1 p.m.): It was always lurking somewhere in the back of Vaughn Taylor's mind that the Buick Open might be the site of the breakthrough he's been waiting for. So far, he hasn't been disappointed.
Taylor added a second-round 68 Friday and is in at 11-under 133.
"I played good here a few years back and clinched the Ryder Cup that week," Taylor said. "It was a really memorable week. And all week I've actually been thinking about it so good memories, and it's good to play here."
Taylor tied for fourth at Warwick Hills in 2006 and earned a spot on Captain Tom Lehman's Ryder Cup team for the matches in Ireland.
"I've struggled pretty much ever since," Taylor said. "Can't really explain why. Really been working hard and just trying to get out of it. I feel like I'm heading in the right direction."
Taylor's best finish this year is a tie for 14th at Pebble Beach in February. He arrived at Warwick Hills having missed the cut in three straight tournaments and five of seven.—Vartan Kupelian
TIGER IN … WITH 63 (12:44 p.m.): Tiger Woods has finished his round with birdies in two of his last three holes to come in with a 9-under 63. That's his lowest round of the year and puts him at 10 under for the tournament, two shots back of current leader Michael Letzig.
After a string of five consecutive pars ended his bid at beating or tying the course record of 61 (which he shares with Billy Mayfair), Tiger birdied the par-5 seventh with a six-foot putt and the par-3 eighth with an 11-foot putt.
Here's a look at Tiger's scorecard from the second round. For more, .
HISTORICAL VIDEOS (12:30 p.m.): The Buick Open has produced some great moments and great champions since its inaugural event in 1958. We've got lots of interesting footage from some of those years, including the first televised hole-in-one. .
LETZIG GOES LOW (12:05 p.m.): While Tiger Woods finishes up the last few holes in his round, Michael Letzig is already in with a 7-under 65 that gets him to 12 under through the first 36 holes of the Buick Open.
For Letzig, it matches a season-low and is two shots off his career-low. While Woods did his damage on the back nine at Warwick Hills, Letzig did his on the front with five birdies en route to a 31 over his final nine holes. On the day, Letzig missed just two greens in regulation and took 27 putts, the former of which was much better than his first would when he hit just 10 of 18 greens in regulation.
This is just Letzig's second year on the PGA TOUR and it's the first time he's had the 36-hole lead. He has had flashes though. Last year, Letzig shot a 63 in the third round of the Travelers Championship on his way to a tie for 10th. He had four other top-10s, too, including a tie for second at the 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic.
Now let's see if Letzig's score holds up, or how long it does.—Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Letzig's scorecard from today ( to replay his round with Shot Tracker):
TIGER UPDATE (11:35 a.m.): After getting off to a ridiculously good start with five birdies and an eagle in his first seven holes, Tiger Woods has cooled off a bit, making one birdie, one bogey and five pars over his last seven holes. He still has the par-5 seventh to play and there may be one other birdie out there for him, but it appears he won't duplicate what he did in 2005 when he opened 71-61 before eventually finishing second. Nonetheless, Woods has played himself back into the tournament even if guys continue to go low, which it looks like they will.—Brian Wacker
THE GOOD AND THE NOT SO GOOD (11:15 a.m.): Make birdies, or go home. That's pretty much the theme at the Buick Open. Of the players on the golf course right now—which is about half the field—only 20 players are over par on their rounds.
Unfortunately for John Daly, he's one of those players. As my colleagues on Sirius-XM would say, he's "high human" as in last on the leaderboard right now at 7 over on his round and 11 over for the tournament.
After struggling to a 76 yesterday, Daly got off to a good enough start today with birdies on Nos. 10 and 13. Then things started to get slippery. He bogeyed No. 15, doubled No. 18 and made a 10 on the par-5 first after hitting two tee balls out of bounds and then hacking it home the rest of the way.—Brian Wacker
ANOTHER BIRDIE FOR TIGER (11 a.m.): The bogey on the 18th didn't get Tiger Woods down for too long. He bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 first hole, where he two-putted from 25 feet after reaching the green in two. That now gives Woods six birdies and an eagle through his first 12 holes.—Brian Wacker
MORE LOW NUMBERS (10:45 a.m.): Tiger Woods isn't the only one making birdies at the Buick Open. He knows it's going to take 20-something under to win this tournament and already a number of players are right there with him on the birdie train this morning.
Vaughn Taylor and Michael Letzig are 1-2 on the leaderboard at the moment and both are 5 under on their respective rounds. Mark Brooks, who last won on the PGA TOUR in 1996, is in contention, too, at 6 under through his first 12 holes and 9 under for the tournament.
We've been playing for less than 4 hours this morning and already yesterday's leader, Steve Lowery, who opened with a 63, has been tied or passed by four guys. That should give you a pretty good idea of what Woods was talking about when he said guys were going to continue to go low.—Brian Wacker
TRACKING TIGER (10:30 a.m.): "It's a process. Obviously I'm not going to get it back in one day. Guys are going to continue to go low. So I gotta get it back over the next three days, and hopefully I can do that."—Tiger Woods after yesterday's opening-round 71.
Apparently Woods listens to himself well because he's already on his way to going low this morning. He's right in that he won't get it all back in one day, but he won't be far off, not after making four birdies and an eagle on his way to a 6-under 30 over his first nine holes (the back nine) at Warwick Hills.
This is is eerily reminiscent of 2005, when he opened with a 71 and came back in Round 2 to shoot a course-record tying 61. That means he'll need to shoot a 5-under 31 on the front, which he's certainly capable of doing given two par-5s and the way he's playing so far with 12 putts, which includes a three-putt from 61 feet for bogey on No. 18.
Woods, who shot four rounds of 66 the last time he won here, said that he had to play well today to make the cut and to play himself back into contention. Well, he's obviously done that. What will he do the rest of the way? ( to follow live with Shot Tracker.) Yesterday, he had two bogeys and just one birdie on the front. Just a hunch, but it's doubtful he does that again.—Brian Wacker
MAKING THE TURN (10:19 a.m.): Tiger Woods cooled off just as he reached the turn, making bogey on the par-4 18th when he three-putted from 71 feet.
Even so, he has made the turn in 30, 6 under for his round, and will now finish up on the front nine, where two more par 5s await. He's still on pace for a 60, which would be a career low.
ANOTHER BIRDIE (9:53 a.m.): Tiger Woods has birdied the par-5 16th by sinking a putt of 8 feet, 5 inches. That puts Tiger at 7 under on his round through his first seven holes.
For the tournament, Tiger is now 8 under for the tournament. Having started his round tied for 95th, he has moved into a tie for third.
TIGER UPDATE (9:30 a.m.): Tiger Woods is making up for lost time on Friday morning.
Woods, who struggled with his irons and putter in shooting 1 under at Warwick Hills on Thursday, certainly seems to have everything dialed in during the second round.
Starting his round off the 10th tee, he's made four birdies and an eagle at the par-4 12th to play his first five holes in 6 under. Woods is 7 under for the tournament and just two off the lead.
He got things rolling with a 9-footer for birdie at the 10th hole and then drained a 6-footer at No. 11. He was 31 yards short and left of the green on the 340-yard 12th and chipped in for the eagle.
Woods, a two-time Buick Open champion, then made a 9-footer for his next birdie and two-putted from 49 feet at the par-5 15th for the fourth.
Woods' career low is 61, which he has shot three times—most recently at the 2005 Buick Open.
To follow Tiger's round on ShotTracker, . — Helen Ross
Groups We're Watching Tee time Players 1:12 p.m. ET, Hole No. 10 
John Senden, Heath Slocum, Paul StankowskiWith all three players under par after 18 holes (and Senden in second at 8 under), this should be an exciting group today. 7:45 a.m. ET, Hole No. 1 
Nathan Green, K.J. Choi, Brandt SnedekerAnother group with three players in red numbers: Green's still riding high with a Thursday 69 coming off his Canada win. 7:54 a.m. ET, Hole No. 10 
Tiger Woods, Jonathan Byrd, Todd HamiltonWoods has never missed consecutive cuts at the professional level. No pressure today, Tiger. Live Essentials 
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