Tiger Woods moves two ahead at rain-delayed Zozo Championship
Written by News on 26/10/2019
Tiger Woods maintained his hopes of a record-equalling 82nd PGA Tour title by moving into a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the weather-affected Zozo Championship.
Woods, playing in his first PGA Tour event since undergoing knee surgery in August, birdied his final two holes to close a second successive 64 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club near Tokyo.
The 15-time major champion’s fast finish lifted him to 12 under and two clear of nearest challenger Gary Woodland, who started the day sharing the lead with Woods, with home favourite Hideki Matsuyama three strokes off the pace in tied-third alongside Keegan Bradley.
Nearly 10 inches of rain had seen Friday’s play washed-out and the second round was delayed by a further three and a half hours on Saturday morning, with the course closed to spectators due to safety concerns.
Matsuyama grabbed the early advantage after following an eagle-two at the 10th, which had been reduced to 150 yards due to the fairway still be flooded, with a birdie at the par-five 14th.
Woodland posted three straight birdies from the 16th to reach the turn one ahead while Woods – playing several groups behind – opened with a close-range birdie at the first but failed to get up and down to save par at the next.
Woods holed a 25-footer at the seventh and posted back-to-back birdies from the 10th to stay in touch with Woodland, who made a birdie-two at the fifth to get to 10 under, before walking in an eight-footer at the par-three 13th to move back into a share of the lead.
The former world No 1 failed to take advantage of the par-five 14th but grabbed the lead when he stuck his approach at the 17th to tap-in range, before closing his bogey-free back-nine with a two-putt birdie at the last.
Corey Conners and Daniel Berger share fifth spot on six under, while Rory McIlroy is nine strokes off the pace and in tied-21st despite a five-under 65.
Players will go out in threeballs and off split tees again for the third round, which gets underway at 6.30am local time on Sunday (10.30pm BST). The final round will begin immediately after and continue to darkness, before concluding on Monday morning.
Watch the final two rounds of the Zozo Championship live on Sky Sports! Live coverage continues on Sunday from 12.30am on Sky Sports Golf.
(c) Sky Sports 2019: Tiger Woods moves two ahead at rain-delayed Zozo Championship
