Up for grabs

By RON GREEN JR.
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Perhaps the top of the leader board at the mid-point of the Quail Hollow Championship is a testament to the new course set-up that has incorporated a not so subtle risk-reward quotient into the competition.

There's the quiet Retief Goosen, once a collector of U.S. Open trophies, now on the road to redemption after a walkabout in golf's wilderness for a time.

Then there's the long-haired, even longer-hitting Bubba Watson, who's never won anything of great importance, playing his Day-Glo brand of golf Friday to shoot a second-round 65 that vaulted him into a tie at the top with Goosen at 8-under-par 136.

Their games are as different as their personalities, Goosen as placid as a pond, Watson sitting on go when his mind isn't wandering away from the golf course.

They were like bumper cars side-by-side when things came to a halt after 36 holes on a Friday when eight players held a share of the lead.

Most of them are still gathered close - first-round leader Tiger Woods fell one off the lead with his buddy Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Camilo Villegas are two back and plenty of others are in the stew.

Short hitters. Medium hitters. Long hitters.

Familiar names like Zach Johnson, Woods and Mickelson. Not so familiar names like George McNeill and Jason Dufner.

There's something for everyone capable of handling the firm, fast fairways and greens that turned to fire on Friday afternoon.

"I love hard golf courses so it doesn't matter to me if it's 2 inches of rough or thick," said Watson, who shot a course record-tying 30 on his final nine holes Friday.

"I love playing golf and I love it when it's really tough and right now, even with 2 inches of rough, you can't get spin on the ball. These greens are getting so firm ... it's going to look like heavy rough."

If the focus still rests on Woods and Mickelson, neither of whom sparked to life in the second round, the lead rests with two players who have demonstrated there are vastly different ways to attack and, temporarily anyway, conquer Quail Hollow.

Goosen has put together consecutive rounds of 68, doing it in his quietly methodical way. He has recaptured much of the game that had put him among the game's top five players just five years ago, winning the Transitions Championship in Tampa, Fla., in March.

Like others, Goosen hasn't been particularly accurate - hitting just 10 of 28 fairways - but the penalty hasn't been great. He has more than made up for it, needing only 53 putts through two rounds, rekindling images of him handling the crusty greens at Shinnecock Hills in the 2004 U.S. Open.

"They're rolling out there like U.S. Open greens," said Goosen, who abandoned an experiment earlier this year with a long putter. "It's nice to see the putter rolling."

Watson is the wild card going into the weekend.

His legendary length was on display Friday as he muscled his way around Quail Hollow.

How long is Watson?

He hit a driver and 9-iron on the green at the 570-yard par-5 fifth hole. It's worth noting that he 3-putted for a par there, one of the few smudges on a scorecard that included eight birdies and an eagle.

The question - and Watson knows it - is whether he can handle a Quail Hollow weekend. He has only 11 top-10 finishes in four years on tour.

"I think I'm good enough to win," Watson said. "I might never win, who knows. I can't tell you that.

"But it's my mental game. My physical game is there. I can hit the driver as far as I want. I can hit the driver as short as I want. I can chip and putt if I want to. It's just, am I going to be mentally in the game."

What's Watson battling? Let him explain:

"My mind just wanders," he said. "I'm thinking about what shoes I'm going to buy, man. I need to wash my car. I'm thinking about stuff that doesn't matter... It's the truth."

There's no question Woods will be mentally there. It's a question of whether he can avoid hitting the tee shots he scattered about the property on Friday, including one at the first hole that finished closer to the third fairway than the first.

"I just kind of hung around," Woods said. "I didn't hit it very well."

RON GREEN JR.
[email protected]

Provider:
The Charlotte Observer