Tiger tales
LEMONT, Ill. — Tiger Woods and Mark Wilson were in a tie for the lead Friday at the BMW Championship, two players who have every reason to feel right at home at Cog Hill.
One practices here all the time. The other seems to win here all the time.
Woods made two solid par saves from deep bunkers early in his round, ran off three straight birdies at the turn and cashed in on enough good shots for a 4-under 67 to put him atop the leaderboard for the first time since the PGA Championship.
Woods is a four-time winner at Cog Hill, including his most recent appearance two years ago in the BMW Championship
Wilson, who birdied his final hole for a 5-under 66, moved to Chicago about five years ago and was looking for a place to practice when Frank Jemsek gave him carte blanche at Cog Hill. Wilson now spends most of his time on this public golf course in the Chicago suburbs.
"This summer when I've been home, I've been primarily coming out here because I thought it made sense to get ready to see the new golf course," said Wilson, alluding to the Rees Jones renovation.
They were at 7-under 135, and will play as a twosome for the first time since their championship match in the 1992 U.S. Junior Amateur in Massachusetts, where a 16-year-old Woods rallied from 2 down to win on the 18th hole.
Padraig Harrington, a familiar name atop the leaderboard over the last two months, was poised to join them until his tee shot on the 18th hole sailed wide ride and into a tree, sending the Irishman back to the tee. He did well to escape with bogey after making a 20-foot putt that gave him a 68.
Harrington was one shot behind, along with Rory Sabbatini (70), Bo Van Pelt (69) and Marc Leishman of Australia, who overcame a rugged start with four straight birdies and ended up with a 69.
Woods got off to a bad start when he hooked his 3-wood into the face of a deep bunker, forcing him to blast out to the fairway and setting up a bogey when his 9-iron went 40 feet too long. With firm greens and a few difficult hole locations, he never had a reasonable birdie putt over this first six holes, and twice had to hit good bunker shots to avoid bogey.
The turnaround began with a 12-foot birdie putt from the fringe on No. 7, and a risky decision that paid off on the next hole. With only 133 yards to an uphill green with the hole location to the back right, Woods decided to take one extra club to fly it long and hope to have it spin back. The gallery groaned when it hopped onto the fringe, then cheered when it spun back to 4 feet for birdie.
