Notes and Quotes from Bridgestone:
Singh: To belly or not to belly? – WGC - Bridgestone Invitational
AKRON, Ohio - To belly or not to belly, that is the question? (Found nowhere in Shakespeare).Vijay Singh, after moving into the WGC
-Bridgestone lead Friday with a 66 and a 7-under 133 total for a one-shot lead on Phil Mickelson, has apparently answered it. After mixed results with the conventional putter and the belly putter - mostly weak this year -- the belly putter it is.
“I'm not a great putter, but I'm not a bad putter,” he said. “I worked a lot on my putting last week, and a few weeks ago, and decided I'm going to stick to a belly putter. I've been going back and forth and couldn't get any consistency out of it.
He said he played well in the British Open, but putted poorly, and that was the clincher.
“I'm not a good putter with the short putter,” Singh said. “So that's why I've been playing with a belly. If you're not putting well, it edges into the rest of your game, and my game has been off. I think you won't see me with the short putter for a long, long time. I'm going to stick to the belly, and I think that's the way to putt.”
For now.
COLOR HIM SHEEPISH - Sean O'Hair, moving to with two of Vijay Singh's lead with a 67 Friday, was looking a little squeamish as the subject of his auto accident of mid-June came up. It seems he was heading for an early morning workout at the gym when, as he put it,
“I shifted maybe a little too quick, and hit a pole going about 35 miles an hour. It just jumped right out in front of me.”
He confessed that he was unfamiliar with driving a stick-shift car, this one being a Shelby Mustang, which routinely packed 540 horsepower and goes for about $80,000. It also seems some fishtailing was involved.
“I just shifted wrong,” O'Hair said. “But what are you going to do?”
The question was, what was his wife going to do?
O'Hair: “She said 'You're getting rid of the car.' ”
Done.
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY - Vaughn Taylor sank his teeth into Firestone South, birdieing the first three holes and notching flawless six-birdie 29 going out. It bit back coming in with a three-bogey 38, and what might have been the round of the day turned into a 3-under 67 and a 139 total.
HOMING IN - Stuart Appleby, the Aussie who came in from the cold in the first round, shot himself into contention with a 66 Friday for a halfway total of 136, 4 under. The same guy who lumbered to a 5-over 40 on his opening front nine Thursday, then rebounded for a 30 coming home, and a par-70.
Appleby said it was a poor ball position that led to the 40 on his first nine. “A bit degrading, playing the first nine holes the way I did,” Appleby said. “I really started to knuckle down on that second nine. So I've made 10 or 12 birdies in, I guess, the last 27 holes.” [Actually, 11.]
You think pros have it all covered? Then listen to Appleby about something as basic as ball position: “My instinct is to get the ball back, and it feels comfortable until I actually have to hit it on the downswing. I don't know why that's a bit of my pacifier. My weakness is to get too far back, and then I get stuck out of room to hit it. But if I can get the ball up [forward] … I can hit it, I find length, I find accuracy, and yeah, good things happen.”
LOOKING AHEAD - Zach Johnson shot a five-birdie, three-bogey 68 for a 135 total, 5-under, and his outlook for the final two rounds will be the same. “The driver is important,” said Johnson, not one of the PGA Tour's power hitters facing the 7,400-yard course. “It's a pretty long beast of a course for me. I've got to get that ball in the fairway, and from there hit solid iron shots. My bogeys today were times when I missed the fairway. I guess that probably sums it up.”
LOOKING AHEAD II - The $1.35 million first prize here would be dandy, but Ireland's Paul McGinley is at Firestone actually looking for a spot on the European Ryder Cup team. “That's the reason I'm here,” said McGinley (67-137). He hasn't piled up enough performance points yet to make the European team, so he has to produce between now and the Ryder Cup Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky. “I've played a lot of good golf, but unless you win first or second, you're not really climbing in the world rankings,” he said. “At 120th, there's a lot of climbs. You've got to win, win or second. That's where all the points are.” Without the points, he has to hope to be a captain's pick. “Of course, I could get picked,” he said. “And anybody showing form in the next four weeks will have a serious look at getting picked.”
TIDS AND BITS - Lee Westwood's 65 was his lowest round on the PGA Tour since the 2005 Players Championship … Peter Lonard's 66 matched his tournament low, which he shot in 2003; he tied for fourth last year … Big swings and little - New Zealand's Mark Brown, 80-75; Germany's Martin Kaymer, 72-79; Adam Scott, 69-76; Aaron Baddeley, 79-69.
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