ORLANDO, Florida: England’s Justin Rose fired a two-under par 70 yesterday to keep a share of the lead after two rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational as Tiger Woods stumbled.
Rose and American Bill Haas stood on nine-under 135 after 36 holes at the $8.5m US PGA event, which for Woods and many others is likely the final tuneup event for next month’s Masters, the year’s first major championship.
Woods moved within a stroke of the lead only to finish with three bogeys, a disappointing 70 leaving him in a share of seventh, four strokes behind overnight leader Rose and Haas, who fired a bogey-free 66 to leap up the leaderboard at Bay Hill.
“I played good,” Woods said. “I missed a couple short ones. The score doesn’t indicate how well I played.
“I’m four back. I’m right there. The good news is we’ve got 36 holes to go. There’s a lot of golf left. Certainly four shots can be made up.”
Rose birdied the par-3 second and par-5 sixth, 12th and 16th holes while taking a bogey at the par-3 14th and missing a five-foot par putt at the 18th to fallback into only a share of the lead with Haas. Woods, who would become World No. 1 with a victory this week, opened with a birdie, eagled the sixth and added birdies at the par-4 11th and 13th holes to pull within a stroke of the lead.
But then everything fell apart for the 14-time major champion. He found a bunker off the 16th tee, then went into the water and missed a 27-foot par attempt to take a 6.
At the par-3 17th, Woods found the rough left off the tee, punched out 21 feet from the cup and two-putted for another bogey. AFP
