Shorter holes give Simpson leg up on field

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This article was published 29/08/2009 (6195 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Webb Simpson looked at the scores and the weather, neither of which indicated an easy time Friday at Liberty National. He quickly settled on a simple game plan and made it pay off in The Barclays.

Simpson took advantage on some of the shorter holes to give him a cushion for the inevitable mistakes. It led to a 3-under 68 on a long, tough and wet afternoon that put the 24-year-old rookie atop the leaderboard for the first time all year.

"My caddie and I talked beforehand about taking advantage of the par 5s and the shorter par 4s, just because we knew we were going to make bogeys," Simpson said.

He was at 8-under 134, two shots clear of Paul Goydos and Steve Marino, who started the second round tied for the lead and did well to get around in even-par 71.

Sergio Garcia also was tied for the lead, got stuck in the morning wave and the worst of the rain and shot a 76.

"It was hands down… the longest course I’ve played this year, the way it was playing," Garcia said. "I don’t know how many 5-, 4- and 3-irons I hit into the greens. I hit some woods into the green."

Tiger Woods tried to hit driver onto one green on the 16th, where the tees were moved up. His shot sailed 65 yards wide of his target, over the water hazard, beyond the tee boxes at No. 17. He nearly crushed a tee marker before stopping the club a foot short, and though he made par, it summed up his frustration.

Woods had a 72, yet still moved up 10 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 17th at even-par 142. For the second straight day, he refused to meet with the reporters to discuss his round.

Bright’s Grove, Ont., native Mike Weir shot 71 and sits tied for 17th at even par.

After shooting 1-under in the opening round, Calgary’s Stephen Ames shot a miserable 79 on Friday and missed the cut.

Smiles were rare on Friday, except at the top of the leaderboard.

The cut came at 5-over 147, matching the highest cut of the year (Bay Hill). Only nine players broke par, one day after there were 26 scores under par. The average score was 74.361, nearly 2 1/2 shots harder than the first round.

Simpson and Ernie Els had the low round at 68, and the Big Easy only got there with a driver on the 16th hole that stopped eight feet from the hole for an eagle.

Goydos was atop the leaderboard for most of the round until he finished with three bogeys over his last four holes. He at least was happy to make enough pars and birdies that a sloppy ending to his round didn’t hurt him.

Plus, he knew what to expect.

"I was watching it a little bit this morning, and it didn’t look like anybody was having a whole lot of fun," Goydos said. The difficulty came from a combination of factors.

A half-dozen tees were moved up, which helped. What hurt was the wet conditions — the rain in the morning and the soft turf throughout the cloudy day — and the heavy air that kept the ball from travelling very far.

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"Throw in the fact that if you do hit it a little crooked, you’ve got three or four inches of wet rough," Goydos said.

Some players’ hopes for the US$10-million FedEx Cup prize ended on Friday. Among those who missed the cut and will not finish among the top 100 to advance to Boston were Ben Curtis (84), Mark Calcavecchia (79) and Steve Flesch, who was disqualified after a 76.

— The Associated Press