Greenbrier Classic 2015: Tiger Woods In Contention On Saturday
Tiger Woods sits only four back of the leaders at the 2015 Greenbrier Classic as he heads his way into Saturday’s third round. Woods is currently at five-under-par and trails leaders Jhonattan Vegas and ScottLangley.
On Friday, Tiger shot a one-under 69 at the Greenbrier’s Old White TPC, battling with rainy conditions and the mechanics of his own swing. He hit several erratic tee shots, one way right into the hillsides on the 13th hole and another into the creek on the 17th, and found only 7 of 14 fairways. Woods was solid with his irons, hitting 14 out of 18 greens and flushing a few shots within a few feet of the cup for relatively easy birdies.
The story of Tiger’s game this week at the Greenbrier Classic is, of course, his ability to bounce back after bad swings and bad holes. During Thursday’s first round, Woods managed to pull off a string of three consecutive birdies after stumbling at the sixth hole with a double bogey. On Friday, Woods bogeyed 11 but came back with two solid swings that left him a 12-foot eagle putt on the 12th, which he converted to an easy two-putt birdie. He bogeyed the 13th but hit his wedge shot into 14 to within five feet, setting up yet another birdie.
After Thursday’s first round, Woods himself acknowledged how close he felt to having full control of his swing and commented on how he had bounced back after making bad swings.
“I wasn’t that far off. Even though my scores don’t indicate it, my swings don’t indicate it, but my feels were telling me that I wasn’t that far off. I was proving it to myself, time and time again away from a tournament site and on the range, but my feel in my hands and my body weren’t far off. It was just a matter of just getting into a little bit of the rhythm and the flow of it, and I found that.”
According to ESPN, the five-under-par total at this week’s Greenbrier Classic is Woods lowest 36 hole score this season — hard to imagine for the former world number one with 14 major championships under his belt.
As Tiger prepares to tee off for Saturday’s third round at the Greenbrier, the golfing world will look to see if he can continue his solid play and show signs of improvement. He’s only four back of the lead, a deficit that he used to be able to overcome with ease, but now the new Tiger is unpredictable. Will he have control of his swing as he did for most of the first two days? If he can post another round under par, it would only be the first time this season that he shoots three consecutive rounds in the 60s, and Woods would certainly be in contention heading into Sunday.
[Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images]
