Four share lead, but Woods fades

Times wires
Friday, August 5, 2011

AKRON, Ohio — Rickie Fowler had eight birdies and an eagle to give himself another shot at winning. Adam Scott did well enough to stay in the lead. PGA Tour rookie Keegan Bradley got in on the action late.

It seemed as if everyone was in contention Friday at the Bridge­stone Invitational. Except for the guy most everyone came to see.

On another soft day that was ripe for low scores, Tiger Woods missed a 2-foot putt and didn't make enough birdies to atone for his short-game mistakes during 1-over 71 that left him in the middle of the pack.

Woods was only seven shots behind, but he had 35 players in front of him at Firestone.

"(Friday) was not very good," he said.

It was good enough for Scott, except for making the putts he holed in the opening round of this World Golf Championship event. He had part 70, which is never bad at Firestone in any condition.

After opening with 62, Scott was at 8-under 132 along with Ryan Moore (66), Fowler (64) and Bradley (65). Jason Day bogeyed his last hole for 70 and was one shot behind with Martin Laird (67) and Robert Karlsson (65).

"The last time I shot 62 was probably a long time ago, so am I going to expect to do it two days in a row?" Scott said. "I don't think so. But it's a hard golf course, and if you're just a little off, you get quite severely penalized. There's no real secret that it's not easy to shoot a couple of 62s."

Fowler was all over the place. He made only five pars and kept his gallery guessing the rest of the time. There were three straight birdies and a wedge he holed from 110 yards for eagle on No. 3. He followed that with three bogeys and three pars.

"A lot of good things came out of today," said Fowler, still searching for his first win. "Building some confidence going into the weekend."

Woods, meanwhile hit eight of 14 fairways, up from five of 14 Thursday.

"I know my stat lines don't show it, but just the way I'm driving the golf ball, the start lines are so much tighter and the shape of the shots is so much tighter," he said. "I'm so close to putting the ball on a string, so it's coming."

PGA: Vaughn Taylor shot 6-under 66 for a one-stroke lead midway through the Reno-Tahoe Open. Taylor, who has won here twice, had eagle and four birdies to move to 9-under 135. That's one better than Will MacKenzie, who is among four other past Reno winners in the hunt. Steve Flesch, the 2007 champion, shot 69, good for a tie for third with Hunter Haas and first-round leader Nick O'Hern at 7 under.

Champions: Palm Harbor's John Huston birdied five of his final nine holes en route to 8-under 64 to share the lead with Jay Haas after the first round of the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn. Haas aced the fourth hole and finished with four birdies.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/four-share-lead-but-woods-fades/1184603

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