San Martin: Indian golfer Arjun Atwal endured an eventful day before darkness prevented him from completing his second round in the Frys.com Open golf tournament here.
Atwal still had the ninth, his closing hole, to play. It is a par-five where he had a birdie on the first day.
Atwal was provisionally placed at 40th place along with Tiger Woods (73 and 2010 Open winner) and South African Louis Oosthuizen (71-70).
Atwal had six birdies, three on either sides of the course and also had three bogeys. He also dropped a double bogey on the par-four 18th.
Paul Casey, who is in danger of losing his PGA Tour card, at 135th rank, went into lead with rounds of 70 and 64.
“To be honest, it’s probably the best I’ve hit the golf ball all year,” Casey said.
He was one ahead of Bud Cauley (69-66) and Ernie Els was seven-under for the tournament but with two holes still to play in second round.
Woods had three straight birdies early in his round and then negotiated his way past tough back-to-back bogeys on 18th and first.
He added birdies on the second and ninth, his closing hole for a round of 68 that ensured he would have a chance to improve over the weekend. Woods was still seven shots behind Casey.
“I don’t like missing cuts, period,” Woods said. “If I miss the cut, that means you can’t win the tournament on the weekend. I’ve got a shot at it this weekend.”
Woods, who was dismayed by his poor performance on the greens in his opening 73, was happier with his putting after some post-round practice on Thursday evening.
“I hit one bad putt today, and that was it,” Woods said. “Every other putt was on line.”
Woods has won 14 major championships but has not won a tournament since 2009. (Agencies)