Sabbatini roars into lead

Rory Sabbatini carded a second consecutive 67 to take a two-shot lead into the weekend at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

The South African had started the day with a one-stroke advantage alongside England’s Paul Casey and American Hunter Mahan on three under par.

But while Casey and Mahan mostly struggled in difficult conditions over the Firestone Country Club’s testing par-70 South Course layout to record three-over-par rounds of 73, Sabbatini produced a strong finish to surge into the halfway lead.

He was one of only 11 players to shoot under par in hot and humid conditions that peaked at 90 degrees with a breeze that started out light but caused problems in spells throughout the day.

The South African made the turn in 34 thanks to birdies at the first and fifth holes before a bogey at the sixth. Another dropped shot stalled Sabbatini at the 14th but he bounced back with birdies at 15, 16 and 17 before closing with par to leave him at six under for the tournament.

His performance even drew praise from Tiger Woods, whom Sabbatini has in the past claimed to be “as beatable as ever”.

“Great scoring,” Woods said. “Considering the wind was up when he played yesterday and then came up towards probably the middle of his round today. So Rory played beautiful to shoot that.”

Sabbatini revealed it was a patient approach that had paid off.

“It’s a matter of picking and choosing your targets out there,” he said. "There are just opportunities that you have that you can be aggressive but you have to kind of back down and just give the course respect, otherwise it’ll hit you pretty quickly.

“I didn’t quite hit the ball as well as I did yesterday. I hit a couple more drives today in that that hay they call rough out there but it was a little more of a grind today, a little more work.

“I think the positive thing I can take out of it is that I did battle out there today and came out on top.”

Sabbatini will start the third round on Saturday playing alongside Masters champion Zach Johnson, who shot the lowest round of the day with a five-under-par 65 which was later matched by Davis Love III as the former US PGA champion moved to one under.

Woods, Scott Verplank and Kenny Perry are tied for third on two under with five-time event winner Woods carding a 70 after starting his round with a bogey and a birdie before adding another of each on his front nine.

“It was playing tricky,” Woods said. “The fairways were quick, a lot of the pins you couldn’t fire at. I just had a hard time making the adjustment.”

Casey had to battle to stay in touch and finished the day at level par for the tournament, six shots adrift of Sabbatini. Three bogeys and three birdies on the front nine set the trend and a birdie at 11th was followed by a bogey five at the 13th before a birdie at the par-three 15th brought him back to three under.

But the Ryder Cup star then bogeyed the 16th and double-bogeyed the 18th for a disappointing end to a tough day.

“I struggled a bit today and found the rough and when you find the rough around this golf course it’s very penal and tough to recover from,” said Casey.

“However, we carry on. I’m even par and not completely out of this thing yet. If I get it going over the weekend we will see what happens.”

Mahan went out in the afternoon and like Casey shot a 73 to leave him at level par for the tournament.

Lee Westwood had an inauspicious start to his second round, bogeying his first two holes having teed off at the 10th but steadied himself with a run of six pars before birdies at the 18th, first and third took him to within a shot of Sabbatini.

But dropped shots at the fourth and sixth saw him card a 71 and finish the day one under.

Two bogeys and a birdie saw Colin Montgomerie slip to three over par while Sergio Garcia, playing his first tournament since losing the Open at Carnoustie two weeks ago, posted a round of 77.

The Spaniard started the day at one over and birdied his first hole at the 10th.

However, a bogey at the 16th was followed by a quadruple bogey eight at the 18th before a double bogey at the sixth left him at eight over par.

Canada’s Mike Weir withdrew from the tournament citing a neck injury having played 10 holes of his second round. His withdrawal reduced the field to 82 players, Jim Furyk having pulled out before the first round began on Thursday with an upper back injury.