Molinari Maintains Lead as Westwood Keeps Pace in Shanghai

The temperature went up and scoring slowed down at the WGC-HSBC Champions during round two in Shanghai.  With greens firming up, players not only found them harder to hit, but harder to putt. None struggled more with the putter than Tiger Woods.  He followed up his one bogey 68 with a roller coaster round that saw the world #2 make five birdies and five bogies, including a number of three putts, on his way to an even par 72.

Both round two leader Francesco Molinari (-9) and new world #1 Lee Westwood (-8) fired two-under 70’s to remain at the top of the leaderboard.  However, the Italian missed a series of chances to widen his lead posting only pars on the courses three easiest holes. 

The two will be in the final group off in round three.  They’ll be joined by unknown South African Sunshine Tour Player Jaco Van Zyl who shot an impressive 66 in round two. 

The low round of the day came from recently anointed Hall of Famer Ernie Els.  Shooting a lights out 29 on the back nine, Els birdied the 18th to finish at (-7) for the day and (-7) for the tournament.  The 41-year old already has two wins this year, including the WGC – CA Championship, so expect him to challenge the leaders on Saturday.

A look at the betting board heading to round three and Lee Westwood is not only #1 in the world but he’s taken top spot on the bookmaker’s board from Tiger Woods.  Westwood will go off in round three as the (9-2) favourite to hold the trophy.  He’s followed by Els and Molinari at (7-1), while Tiger has tumbled all the way to (11-1) after going off the favourite again yesterday.  Notably, Phil Mickelson sits at (17-1) despite being tied with Woods for 9th place at (-4).

Scoring conditions should further challenge the field in round three.  With the forecast showing a clear, warm day, the greens should continue to firm up through round three.  This could become a scramblers tournament, as it’ll become even more important to be able to get up and down for par in the final two rounds.

It takes hundreds of good golf shots to gain confidence, but only one bad one to lose it    - Jack Nicklaus