Intermittent rain showers and cool temperatures could not stop Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods from finding their way to the top of the leaderboard following the completion of Friday’s round at the Wachovia Championship. Players continued to praise the course and conditions at Quail Hollow Country Club, and mitigated some of the very hard and fast conditions which made scoring extremely difficult on the first day of competition.
Following his first round score of 70, Woods shot an impressive 68 in the second round despite continued struggles with finding fairways. Impressive ball striking from the rough and consistent putting combined to keep Woods in contention, although a bogey on the par-4 ninth hole alluded to the swing difficulties he has been facing. Former champion Vijay Singh began the day tied for second and fought his way through a round consisting of an eagle, three birdies, and five bogies for a round of 71. When asked about his round, Singh said, “That’s the way the game is. You just can never keep trying, and all of a sudden something good is going to happen. I wasn’t playing bad, I just wasn’t putting it together.”
Despite the big names on the leaderboard, Quail Hollow itself was a big part of the story since the difficult course took many of the world’s best golfers on a roller coaster ride. No golfer typified this better than first round leader Padraig Harrington whose four birdies were negated by seven bogies including a triple on the eighteenth hole. Harrington was admittedly struggling with his ball striking and was saved by his putter during the first round, but no putting could cover him missing every fairway on the front nine. However, one golfer did not succumb to the weather and course conditions. Arron Oberholser quietly found his way right next to the leaders after consecutive rounds of 69 put him at -6 and tied with Singh and Woods.
With the marquee pairing set Saturday afternoon and 12 players within three shots of the lead, all eyes of the golfing world will be focused on the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Pos Player Tot R1 R2 T1 Tiger Woods -6 70 68 T1 Vijay Singh -6 67 71 T1 Arron Oberholser -6 69 69 T4 Ted Purdy -5 70 69 6 Ken Duke -4 70 70