Donald leads after first 36
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Luke Donald has a chance to become the Number One player in the world with a win this week at The Heritage on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. After two rounds he has at least given himself an opportunity to cash in as he leads at 10 under 132, one clear of first-round leader Garrett Willis and two better than Camilo Villegas, defending champion Jim Furyk, Jason Day and Chad Campbell.Donald has teed it up five times on the tour this season and but for one lousy round at Riviera that led to a missed cut to start his season, he has won the WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship, tied for 10th at the Honda Classic, tied for sixth at the WGC – Cadillac Championship and tied for fourth at The Masters.
Donald has not been distracted by all of the talk about the world’s top spot.
“Well, I'm playing well, so I guess it's always in the back of your mind,” said Donald. “It's hard to get away from knowing that with Twitter and Facebook and the media and everything, you obviously know what's at stake. But, again, if I manage to go and win it's -- being No. 1 is just the outcome. It's still about concentrating on the process is all I can control and obviously I can't control that. But I can control where I hit the golf ball, and hopefully I'll give myself a good shot at it come Sunday.”
Villegas was late to add this stop to his schedule, having had plans to be in his native Colombia this week, and he didn’t let a bogey at the last spoil his good feelings after the second round.
“I enjoy playing this golf course,” Villegas said. “It's such a great place. I had a couple nice par saves, which is always important around this place. I made some nice putts. I'm hitting the ball a lot better than I have been the whole year, starting it more on line, and that's exciting. It hasn't been the best start of the season, but I'm looking forward to the weekend and just kind of get it going from here on.”
Furyk has played bogey-free golf over his first 36 holes and after his round spoke about his history at Harbour Town Golf Links.
“I've always been comfortable here, but it's been a little bit of -- as I said, it's always been feast or famine for me,” said Furyk. “I missed a lot of cuts here by a shot and had a number of top-5 finishes. I would have to think, this is one of my best events for the top-5 finishes in my career. And it seems like when I play well I play really well here. And I think it's a little bit of testament to the golf course. I really like it here. I think it suits my game. If you're not on or not playing well, it can bite you really quick because it's so tight.”
This tournament is without a title sponsor, and with the names on the leaderboard it could be a great way to attract one.
Well within striking distance for the weekend are Ben Crane and Ian Poulter at 7 under, Mark Wilson and Tim Herron in a group at minus-6 and Scott Verplank, Graeme McDowell, Spencer Levin and J.P. Hayes, all tied at 5 under, five off the pace.
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