NEWS AND NOTES FROM DAY TWO:
- With the Presidents Cup only eight months away, it’s interesting to note how the Internationals are playing, especially Her Majesty’s golfers. Of the final 16, five are from England…equal to the number of Americans left in the field.
- This is the first time in tournament history no number one seed has advanced to the third round.
- Definitely the hottest player the first two rounds, Camilo Villegas has played only 26 holes so far this week. Villegas has won 14 out of thise 26 holes (53.8 percent) for the highest winning percentage in the first two rounds since 2003. After playing 12 holes in the the opening round, he needed only 14 yesterday to win in round two, 5&4. Villegas birdied four of his first five holes to go 4 up and never looked back. Villegas, who closed the match with two birdies, is 10 under for the 28 holes he has played at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club
- Despite four bogeys (and one birdie) in his first seven holes, Luke Donald was only 1 down at that point. He was 2 down after 16 holes, but a long birdie at the 17th and a Singh bogey at the 18th squared the match. Vijay Singh’s putt on the 19th hole for par hung on the lip … and never dropped. Just like that, the defending FedExCup champion was knocked out, completing the upsets of all four No. 1 seeds, the first time that all four have lost before reaching the round of 16. With the win, Donald advances past the second round for the first time since 2006. Donald has won both his matches so far on the 19th hole.
- Rory McIlroy continues to play beyond his years and is making some noise in his first WGC Match Play event. In round two, he birdied four of his last six holes to overtake Mahan, who was 1-up midway through the back nine. The teenager McIlroy never held the lead until his birdie at the 17th hole put him 1 up. Mahan birdied the final hole, but McIlroy matched him to halve the hole and win the match. It was a spectacular back nine for McIlroy, who found himself 2 down after 12 holes. From that point, he turned it on, with birdies in four of his final six holes. Those final six holes are obviously to McIlroy’s liking — in the first two rounds here, he is 5 under from the 13th hole on.
- Ian Poulter had to battle hard to avoid getting upset by the #16 seed, who previously beat the #1 seed in the Gary Player bracket. Poulter bogeyed to fall 1 down at the 4th hole, squared the match with a birdie at the 8th, fell behind again his opponent birdied the 12th, but quickly squared the match with a birdie at the 13th. Poulter then took the lead for good with a birdie at the 17th then closed out the match with a par on the 18th.
- Ross Fisher, who’s making his Accenture Match Play debut this week, needed just 13 holes to knock off the winner of this year’s Bob Hope Classic, 6&5. Fisher birdied four of the first eight holes to go up 4 up, then closed out the match with an eagle. For the day he was 6 under for 13 holes.
View original Article on Footjoy Blog