Global Golf Post - August 15, 2011

Despite his poor play, Woods still
attracted large and vocal crowds.
A heavily ban-
daged McIlroy
shot 73 in the
second round.
World No. 2 Lee
Westwood played his way
into contention in the
second round.
It was all about the Broken Man, the
Bionic Man and the Invisible Man: Tiger
Woods, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood.

Woods, the Broken Man, hacked to
two double-bogeys, dunking balls in the
water and playing arboreal pinball. At
times it was difficult to see the Woods
for the trees. People who have always
dreamed of playing like Tiger, now can.
He signed for a 73, 10-over par, and a
missed cut. It completed his MC Grand
Slam (‘09 British, ‘06 U.S. Open, ‘96
Masters as an amateur).
The sweat trickling down his face
made it look like he was crying. Inside
he probably is. The FedEx Cup will have
to do without him. Next up could be the
Fall Series or even a rumored trip to
find his form on the European Tour. “He
and I will talk about it. We weren’t con-
templating this, that’s for sure,” said
Tiger’s manager, Mark Steinberg.
McIlroy, the Bionic Man, was given
the all clear by an MRI scan on his wrist
and battled to a 73 to be 3-over par for
the championship. He still believed he
could shoot a couple of 65s to win. Ah,
the unshakable confidence of youth.
Westwood, the Invisible Man, was
lurking just four shots off the lead. “I’m
cruising. I like where I am,” he said.
That sort of talk can get a man arrested.
There were only two non-Americans
in the top 10. Hands up who picked
Australia’s John Senden ( 4 under) and
Denmark’s Anders Hansen ( 3 under) to
lead the foreign challenge?
Whatever happened to Jason Dufner
and Keegan Bradley. Oh yeah, they’re
the 36-hole leaders at 5-under par. A