Tiger Woods is back as the best golfer in the world and after his drama with Sergio Garcia and the comments that were made by him as well as the European Tour Chief will do nothing but motivate him further this year as the U.S. Open approaches and he tries to end his major drought over the past few years.
Woods has been fantastic while winning on Tour four times this year, including at the Players Championship where him and Garcia got into their spat, which appeared over before Garcia and the Euro head both made racial comments directed at Woods. The golfer will use that as motivation to win the next major and he nearly did it at the Masters before dealing with a drop controversy that knocked him off the top. Garcia is playing the PGA Championship over the weekend and Woods will play the Memorial ahead of the US Open later before the major. Woods has been dating Lindsey Vonn and that may have given him a calming presence, as he has looked like his old self in the way he has played and his tee shots and putting have been fantastic.
Luke Donald, the PGA Championship winner in 2011 and 2012, is almost certain to miss the cut after returning a level-par 72 for a six-over total of 150 at Wentworth on Friday. The weather was no better for the second round and Donald suffered an early blow when he took a double-bogey five at the second. The Briton also dropped a stroke at the third before he staged a mini-revival with birdies at the fourth, eighth, 12th and 13th. Donald's playing partners, Spanish pair Sergio Garcia and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, fared a lot better than the Englishman.
Garcia, embroiled in a racism row with world number one Tiger Woods this week, carded a 71 for a one-under total of 143. Fernandez-Castano is also on 143 after going round in 75. The cut for the final two rounds is projected to fall at two-over 146. Donald will attempt to take heart from the five birdies he notched on Friday.
"It's not like I am a million miles away," he said. "It's about doing the things Luke Donald usually does well - being tidy around the greens and making the putts when I need to.
"I've got to start there and work my way back. Sometimes it's just a little something small from my coach that will get me back on track.
"I'm not too worried. It's never nice to miss the cut here, a place I've played well, but failure is a much bigger motivation for me than successes."
(Reuters Quotes)
