MySports Today

Tigers Woods leads the 2009 PGA Championship after early play Thursday morning.  Woods shot a bogey-free round of 5-under par 67.  Woods has a 1 stroke lead over his playing partner – Padraig Harrington – the same man Tiger beat at the Bridgstone Invitational last weekend in Akron, Ohio. Woods birdied the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 12th and 15th holes en route to his solid round.

Phil Mickelson, and the winners from 2009’s 1st 3 Major Championships – Angel Cabrera (The Masters), Lucas Glover (The U.S Open) and Stewart Cink (The British Open) – all have afternoon tee times.

Tiger Woods won his 70th career PGA Tour Victory at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio over the weekend with a dramatic victory over Padraig Harrington.  The key turning point occurred on the 16th hole with Harrington leading by 1 stroke.  After both players were placed on the “clock” for slow play leading up to the Back Nine, Woods went on to birdie the hole, while Harrington played serveral bad shots – including one into the water – that led to a triple bogey.  Woods 1 shot deficit quickly turned into a 3 shot lead.  Woods had this to say about chief referee for the PGA European Tour – John Paramor – “Like I was telling him out there, ‘I’m sorry that John got in the way of a great battle’, because it was such a great battle for 16 holes.  And unfortunately, that happened.”

Woods really let into the officials, while Harrington was a little more diplomatic, saying that rules were rules, and the players had to abide the rules for the integrity of the game.  Poor weather conditions, leading to poor play caused much of the slower rounds on Sunday at the tournament.  But I guess that don’t factor that into account.  If they were really a full hole behind the next group, these guys should have picked up the pace a little bit.  But what’s a couple of minutes here or there, especially when the lead is between 2 competititors playing head-to-head in the last group of the day.  It seems to me that the officials should be a little more lenient in a situation like this and in the final round.  As far as we can tell, it doesn’t look like Woods will be fined for his negative comments against the officials and the tour.