ALVESLOHE, Germany, 17 May 2003 — Tiger Woods was left with a mountain to climb to retain his Tour Players’ Championship of Europe title here yesterday when for the second straight day he was left gasping by playing partner Padraig Harrington. Harrington, joint first round leader with Retief Goosen, again had the Midas touch around the greens on the way to a majestic 66 to go with his opening 65.
That stretched his lead over the World No 1 to an incredible nine strokes. Woods struggled all day, opening with bogeys at the first where he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker and the par-five third.
At one stage the unthinkable prospect of him actually failing to make the cut loomed on the horizon. A birdie at the seventh steadied the ship, and two others followed at the 13th and 17th, but he still limped home well down the field with a disappointing 71.
Woods is on the ropes, but it is worth recalling that he won this title two years ago when it was played in Heidelberg, rebounding from 10 shots behind Michael Campbell after two rounds to win by four. Harrington reached the halfway stage over the Gut Kaden course at 13 under, three strokes clear of European No. 1 for the last two years Goosen who birdied the last hole for a 69.
A stroke further back were Peter O’Malley of Australia who came in with a 66, Robert Karlsson of Sweden (67), Andrew Coltart of Scotland (67) and Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland who had the round of the day with a 65.
“It took me a while to knuckle down today and do my own thing and avoid everything that was going on,” said Harrington when asked if he had been upset by Woods’ ever-present security guard.
“But it was not their fault. They were doing a fine job. I was just distracting myself. The birdies at 9, 10 and 11 set me going. Without a doubt Tiger can still win the tournament.”
Also moving into contention yesterday morning was last week’s winner, Paul Casey of England, who was at eight under for the tournament after shooting a 66. Among those level with Casey five shots off the pace were Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland who finished with three birdies, Peter Lawrie of Ireland who had a 69, Paul Lawrie of Scotland (66) and Peter Baker of England (69)
English veteran Nick Faldo made his move with a 67 to stand at seven under at the halfway stage, one ahead of Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie. But there was no joy for England’s struggling Lee Westwood. His 68 left him on level par and he missed the cut.
Sluman Seizes Lead at Byron Nelson Event
In Irving, Texas, Jeff Sluman used a new putting stroke to find his form, firing a seven-under par 63 here Thursday to seize a one-stroke lead after the first round of the $5.6 million PGA Byron Nelson Championship.
Sluman sank seven birdies at Cottonwood Valley, one of two courses used for the event, to grab a one-stroke edge on fellow Americans Jim Furyk, Billy Andrade and Kevin Sutherland with Phil Mickelson and Fiji’s Vijay Singh among 11 two strokes off the pace.
