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E-mailDonald moves in tie with Woods
"No, not really," he said. "You can easily make a bogey or double for that mater. Obviously, it would be nice to have a 2 or 3-stroke lead, but it definitely would be catchable."
Within a half-hour of Donald's words, the guy who owned the two-shot lead, Tiger Woods, made a double bogey and heads into today's weather-threatened third round tied with Donald.
"I thought I played well all day until that last hole," Woods said after finishing with 70. "I thought I easily could have shot a round in the mid-60s with the way I hit the ball."
After 31 holes without a bogey, Woods had a bogey and double-bogey in his last five holes. Donald, on the other hand, had four birdies and a bogey in his round of 67 to climb to the top of the board.
"I'm very pleased today," Donald said. "I didn't do a lot wrong. I didn't really get myself into too much trouble, so it was a good, solid round."
Because of expected severe storms this afternoon, today's third round will start at 7:20 a.m., with players in groups of three going off the first and 10th tees. Officials are hoping to get the round completed by 2 p.m. to beat the bad weather.
Vijay Singh and Henrik Stenson, the other first-round co-leaders, could do no better than 71 in the second round and are in a group that includes Thomas Bjorn, Chris DiMarco and Paul McGinley at 3-under par.
Donald's round got jump-started in a big way when he put together a hat trick of birdies at Nos. 13, 14, 15.
"I think the one on 13, a downhill, slightly left-to-right putt that I got in from about 25 feet, that kind of got the momentum going," said Donald. "I then hit good shots to just 6 feet on 14 and 15, and then, had easy putts from there. That was a nice little run for me."
Like Woods, Stenson finished with a double-bogey on No. 18, which took away a little of the good feelings he had for coming back after making bogeys on two of his first four holes.
"I didn't get off to the best of starts, so I'm very happy with the way I fought my way around out there," Stenson, a Swedish native said. "But then, I'm a little bit unhappy with the way I finished. Overall, I'm quite happy with the way I kept it together."
Woods' adventures on the 18th hole, a mostly downhill 464-yard par 4, included a drive that leaked to the right trees and an attempted chip-out that hit a branch and caromed even further right. He received line-of-sight relief because of a scoreboard and zinged a low 7-iron that rolled through the green.
"The good thing is, I'm still in the lead," Woods said. "We've got a long way to go, but I didn't shoot myself out of the tournament by making double, and that's a good thing. I'm still right there. We've got a long way to go, and I'm playing well, so I just need to keep doing what I'm doing."
Thirteen players will begin the third round under par, but that number might shrink some if the wind continues to blow and the course continues to bake as it has the first two days.
"It was a little different out there because some greens would be hard, others soft, and you didn't know which you were going to get," Donald said. "Right now, the course is playing fiery and fast."
