RBC Heritage. Davis Deserves Lead.

Brian Davis deserves the lead at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, after his super opening round of -6 under par 65.

Brian Davis / Lecka / Gett Images

Brian Davis leads the RBC Heritage after the opening round, and once again is in contention in this event which he lost in spectacular fashion in 2010 at Harbour Town when he called a penalty on himself, and consequentially lost out out to Jim Furyk. Brian wants to win this tournament, so that people remember him for winning rather than conceding.

“I’d like to do something else in this tournament so I don’t get remembered just for that. People do remember it, but for me, I’m just trying to move on from that, and trying to win a golf tournament. I wasn’t worried about my score or about my misses, I was just playing.”

Tied in second place at -5 under par are Charley Hoffman and Kevin Streelman.

Charley thinks he has at last learned to play this course;

” I had zero success early here. I didn’t have the patience to play this golf course. Now I know which side of the fairways to hit it on, and now I can hit it on that side of the fairways sometimes.”

Personally I hope Brian Davis can go on and win his first PGA Tour event, he feels that Harbor Town owes him one.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s play, should be very interesting. Luke Donald has made a good start to this event, currently at -2 under par.

 

 

 

 

USPGA Tour, Travelers Championship @ TPC River Highlands, Connecticut

                                             

                               Roland Thatcher and Brian Davis /Rogash/Getty Images

Brian Davis shot 64 and Roland Thatcher 65 to get to -12 under par for the two rounds played at US PGA Tour Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut. These guys are two shots clear of John Rollins, James Driscoll and Stuart Appleby, who are all handily placed tied for second spot on -10 under par.

Roland was candid about his golf;

” I’m in good position through two rounds, and hopefully I can do something special here over the weekend. Unfortunately, I’m probably the least consistent player on this Tour, so whenever I go out and miss five, six cuts in a row, that doesn’t really surprise anybody, nor should it surprise anybody that occasionally I put together four rounds. So hopefully this is one of those weeks where I make a lot of money in a very short amount of time.”

Four of the last six winners of the Travelers Championship were first-time winners on the PGA Tour, and James Driscoll, who finished fifth here a year ago, has also yet to win a PGA Tour event. At aged eighteen, James became the youngest ever winner of the Massachusetts State Amateur, and now more than a decade later, he is still looking for his first Tour win. James is happy to be where he is, and thinks it would be great, being a native New Englander to win this tournament;

” It feels good. It’s kind of like last year. I’m in a similar position. I’ll probably be in one of the last few groups, so it’s an exciting place to be.  It would be great. It’s fun just to be there in contention and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get some friends and family out there to support me and hopefully I can play well for them.”

Stuart Appleby was also pleased to be playing some good golf;

” Conditions are easier in the morning,  bit of a breeze today. I’m not sure if they’re going to get breeze in the afternoon. You could see lower scores than yesterday’s afternoon.”

Stuart also spoke about the improvement in his golf game;

” It’s better. I mean I’m thinking better. I’m getting better. I mean it’s really a crumbling wreck, my game. I wasn’t hitting it any good and I wasn’t thinking any good and I was just really finding it very hard. All self-induced issues. I had a back injury that was affecting my swing, not hurting me, and that seemed to make it hard to get on top of that most of last year, or all of last year. Body and mind is a lot better, and if you get those two right, you play better golf. “

Charging along at -9 under par is two times Major winner Padraig Harrington, who had a second round of  -5 under par, 65, and is also very much in this championship.

Bubba Watson got his first career victory here in 2010, he is currently at -8 under par after a round of  65 today, Bubba has good and bad memories of this tournament;

“For me, my first win here, announcing that my dad was about to pass away of cancer, there’s up and down moments at this place. But they’ve always treated me well. I’m going to have to shoot a low number. It will be fun. They’re going to have to slow down for me to catch them. “

Shell Houston Open, 3rd Round. Louis Leads.

Louis Oosthuizen leads the field after the third round of the Shell Houston Open, at Redstone G.C. at Humble in Texas. Louis had -6 under par round of 66, to leave him at the top of the leaderboard on -17 under for the tournament. He said he was ready for the contest tomorrow in the final round;

“It’s a great leaderboard behind me, it’s going to be tough, but I feel like I’m ready for it.”

Sullivan/Getty Images

Two shots back at -15 under par is Hunter Mahan, who had a -7 under par third round, and is alone in second place on -15 under par. Hunter commented on only having one bogey all week;

” Been playing real solid all week. One bogey so far. That’s always good. This course is ; conditions are great, scoring is good. It’s always in perfect shape. So , the rough is pretty short, so you can kind of ; if you avoid the water and hit it on the opposite side of the fairway or rough, you’re going to have a shot at the green, and play smart like that, you can have a lot of looks, and been rolling it well this week and especially today. It’s difficult out there because our mind always wants to shoot forward and go to 18 and see what kind of round you can get in and look at the leader board and try to figure all these numbers in your head. “But the more I can stay in the moment, just try hit the next shot good, it’s one of those things where you just realize, oh, my gosh I’m 6, 7-under, I didn’t even think about it. I’m just trying to hit the next shot good.”

Carl Pettersson and Brian Davis are still hanging around, at just three shots back on -14, and maybe still have a chance of winning the trophy.

Phil Mickelson is six shots back of the lead, but is still upbeat about his chances and is excited about the coming shootout on Sunday. He said in interview;

“I’m so close to playing great. I know I need to shoot a really low round out here, but I know it’s there. I know that I can do it. I’ve done it. But I know that with the conditions right now, you can shoot 6, 7, 8, 9 under par, and hopefully that’s what I’m going to be shooting for tomorrow. Instead of getting frustrated, I came in contact and hit more good shots, I gave myself good opportunities. I’m really pleased the way I played the first three rounds. Hopefully I can get a really hot round tomorrow. I’m pleased with how I played, but I’m disappointed in the score. I need to go a little bit lower. I feel like I’m playing well to where I can get a really hot round out here. I did it last year, and I thought I’m even playing better to where if I get off to a good start or make a few putts, I feel like I can really get it going tomorrow.”

Shell Houston Open completion of 2nd Round

Jeff Maggert lead the Shell Houston Open after the completion of the suspended round today. Jeff had another round of 66 to match his first round and finish with a total of -12 under par. Brian Davis and Louis Oosthuizen are joined at -11 under par by James Driscoll. Round three is now in progress, and as I write Brian Davis and Louis Oosthuizen are on the first tee.

Shell Houston Open, 2nd round play suspended.

Round 2 of the Shell Houston Open at Redstone G.C. at Humble in Texas has been suspended due to darkness. Play will resume Saturday at 7:30 am. At the top of the leaderboard at the time of suspension was Brian Davis of England and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, who both finished at -11 under par for the tournament. Brian shot -7 under par 65 and Louis a -6 under 66, they lead by one from Jeff Maggert who is alone at -10, but he has yet to finish his second round. There are a host of players at -9 under including Phil Mickleson who had to finish his first round before beginning the second, a long day for him.

Sullivan/Getty Images

Brian said in interview;

“It was a good day at the office today. It was tougher this morning because we didn’t have ball in hand to start the round and we had the rain yesterday. This morning was pretty tough. The ball was flying everywhere. Got the ball in hand this afternoon, you know, got a flag to go at. You’ll see some low scores out there this afternoon. It’s going to be a low scoring first couple of rounds.”

Louis was happy with his day’s performance;

“It’s a good spot to be in going into the weekend. I don’t know if it will be leading, probably be close. But yeah, I played nicely. I hit my irons very well today, which was both rounds. Struggled a little bit off the tee. Now and then working on something. So, you know, hopefully I’ve got it spot on next week. But yeah, I’m happy. Putting well, giving myself the opportunities, which is good.”

Phil Mickleson was also a happy man, asked “long day out there, he replied;

“It was. We had great playing conditions in the second round with lift, clean and place. I didn’t really take advantage of the opportunity there to get the mud off. We got two more rounds on the weekend. Looking forward to it. I’m excited about the weekend and excited about next week.”

Masters hopeful Ernie Els has finished his second round at -5 under par for the tournament, and will have to do something special tomorrow if he is to have a chance of winning, and gain an invite to Augusta National.

World number three Lee Westwood is also a -5 under for the tournament, but he also still has to complete his second round.