The Barclays: Tiger Woods Has the Upper Hand

For the first time all year, Tiger Woods is not facing an uphill battle after his opening round.

Woods went out and blistered an extremely difficult golf course early yesterday morning with a six-under-par round of 65, and as of now, no one has really made a leap past Woods on the leaderboard.

Scoring is always better during the morning rounds.  The greens are receptive and have not yet been trampled by 125 pairs of feet.

One would assume that at least a couple of golfers would have hoisted themselves a ahead of Woods on the leaderboard by this point, but that has yet to happen.

Tim Petrovic currently leads The Barclays at seven-under-par for the tournament through 15 holes of his second round.

Ben Crane, Padraig Harrington, and Stewart Cink are all at six-under-par late in their second rounds.

Woods certainly has company atop the leaderboard, but all of that company have either finished or are about to finish their second rounds.   

Woods just teed off 20 minutes ago and he is even par through one hole.

So why does Woods have a marked advantage heading into the second round?

Well, because he got his nose far enough ahead of the pack yesterday morning with his six-under par round of 65 that a round half as good this afternoon will likely give him at least a two-stroke lead heading into the weekend.

You can’t win a golf tournament on Thursday and Friday, but you can certainly lose one.

For the first time in quite a long time, Woods has not taken himself out of a golf tournament on Thursday and Friday. 

Woods has 54 holes left to play this week, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that he is out to make a significant statement this week at The Barclays.

Could it possibly be that the critics were a little quick to end Woods’ reign as golf‘s leading man?  

Hmm, when has that ever happened before?