Lee Westwood came oh so close last week at Arnie’s Place, finishing runnerup to Bryson DeChambeau. Now it’s Westwood again taking the halfway lead at the 2021 Players Championship.
Westwood has been a ball-striking machine for the first two days and on Friday, he followed-up his opening 69 with a sweet six-under par 66 that put him atop the leader-board at nine-under par after two grinding trips around the Stadium Course.
Conditions were more friendly on Friday with little to no wind and Westwood was one of the players who took advantage.
“My confidence is high but the quality of my golf swing is high. I’m hitting fairways and greens,” said Westwood, who is smiling a lot along with caddie/girlfriend Helen Storey on the bag. “I’m playing carefree golfer, not worrying about consequences. Get the yardage, pick a club and do the best I can,” Westwood said, all smiles after another day of greens and fairways.
The top of the board has a distinct British flavor with Matt Fitzpatrick right behind his fellow Brit. Fitzpatrick found himself scrambling over his final five holes of the day as he offset a pair of bogeys with two birdies coming home, including one at the par five ninth, where he finished his day with a second straight 68 that left him in solo second at eight-under par.
First round leader Sergio Garcia’s putter didn’t treat him very well on day two. Garcia struggled with the flat-stick and after that 65 on Thursday, he had to birdie 16 and 18 to get back to even for the day and remain at seven-under. But he’s not alone there. Chris Kirk shot the day’s low round — 65. That got him to seven under after a Thursday 72.
There are a half dozen players at six-under par but the biggest name among them is driver-crushing, protein shake-chugging, rules-arguing, distance obsessed, U.S. Open and Bay Hill-winning Bryson DeChambeau, who has picked up where he left off after taking the Arnold Palmer Invitational last Sunday. Bryson has a pair of 69s in the books but hasn’t shown his best stuff yet, which should be concerning to the rest of the field. He even managed to overcome a horrendous start to his second round when a wild drive that sailed right on him at the 10th hole, his first of the day, resulted in an opening double-bogey.
Bryson was undeterred and worked his way back to keep himself in the thick of it.
He has plenty of company at six-under. Brian Harman (67-71), Denny McCarthy (69-69), Charley Hoffman (70-68), Doug Ghim (71-67) and ironman Sungjae Im (72-66) were all sitting at six-under par.
World No. 2 Jon Rahm is in the hunt. He’s at four-under after shooting 68. Rahm and DeChambeau fared the best of the top 10 players in the field. No. 1 Dustin Johnson is at one-under (73-70), No. 3 Justin Thomas is at two-under after a pair of 71s, fifth-ranked Xander Schauffele missed the cut, shooting four-over (76-72), No. 7 Tyrrell Hatton went home earlyl after rounds of 76-68) to miss the cut by a shot. The cut came at even par. Patrick Reed (No. 8) sits at two-under (70-72) while Patrick Cantlay and Webb Simpson missed the cut. Cantlay was five-over, Simpson two-over.
Rory McIlroy’s game was nothing short of erratic for the first two days and it showed as the 2019 champion followed up his gruesome opening 79 with a 75 and finished at 10-over par with no answers to the questions surrounding the state of his game.
