Tiger skips Bay Hill; Padraig and Power cut; McGee swinging free
Pádraig Harrington makes a birdie in round two of the Valspar Championship.
PGA Tour — Pádraig Harrington will head to Bay Hill on the back of a missed cut in his first start since winning the Honda Classic. But in a move that will set alarm bells ringing for his Masters hopes, Tiger Woods will not be joining Harrington in Orlando next week.
Woods hasn't played since following a missed cut in Phoenix with an early withdrawal from the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. And in what will be seen as a sign that he's battling the chipping yips, the current world No 79 revealed in a statement that he's not ready to play at an acceptable level just yet:
"I spoke to Arnold today and told him that I will not play in his tournament this year. I'm sorry I won't be in Orlando next week, but I know it will be a really successful event," Woods said in a statement.
"I've put in a lot of time and work on my game and I'm making strides, but like I've said, I won't return to the PGA TOUR until my game is tournament ready and I can compete at the highest level.
"I hope to be ready for the Masters, and I will continue to work hard preparing for Augusta. I want to thank everyone again for their support."
As for Harrington, he was clearly still in celebration mode on Thursday when he putted abysmally and opened with a five over 76 in the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook's Copperhead Course.
He was far better on Friday but after going out to the turn in three under, he signed for a one over 71, dropping shots at three of his last four holes to miss the 142 cut by five shots on six over
Harrington missed his only short putt of the day — a four footer— at the 18th..
Brendon de Jonge (67-69) leads by one stroke on six under par from a group of five — Jordan Spieth (67), Henrik Stenson (70), Ryan Moore (68) and Derek Ernst (70).
There was also two spectacular Youtube moments — the sight (and sound) of Ernie Els breaking a club escaping from the trees and a brilliant hole-in-one by Jonathan Byrd.
First Ernie:
And now Byrd:
Web.com Tour — Seamus Power could do no wrong on the eGolf Professional Tour last year but it's proving tough for the West Waterford man to get himself up and running on the Web.com Tour.
While he hasn't played anywhere near his best, four missed cuts from his first four starts would try the patience of a saint.
Having missed his first three cuts by a shot in Panama and Colombia (twice), he shot rounds of 70 and 71 to finish provisionally tied 90th on one-under par in the weather-delayed Basil Champions presented by HSBC in Sao Paolo
He's yet to record a round in the 60s after eight rounds but with a scoring average 71.8 he's hardly hacking his way around the second tier US tour.
Algarve Pro Tour — Ruaidhri McGee is building a head of steam as the countdown begins to the the start of the Challenge Tour season.
The Derry man appears to be in good form on the Algarve Pro Tour in Portugal though he had to settle for a level par 72 in the opening round at Castro Marim. Scores
He's seven shots behind leader Marcus Armitage.
