STATELINE, Nev. – Weather delays couldn’t stop tennis player Mardy Fish from taking a strong lead on the second day of the American Century Championship. Fish started the day trailing leader Adam Thielen by one point, but after getting nine birdies, Fish ended the day squarely in the lead.
He ended the round with 34 points and 57 points total. Following the round, Fish said he started off with two bad holes, then a bogey on Hole 4 but soon found his stride. “So 1-over through four holes and was able to make a birdie on 5.
It really helped just kind of get the round going just a little bit, just something positive,” said Fish. Six of his birdies came in the back-nine when he became seemingly unstoppable. Along with Thielen, Fish played with Derek Lowe.
When asked what it was like to see someone make that many birdies in a row, Lowe said, “honestly, what makes it beautiful is you root for him, you want him to keep going.” “No way, no heck, no how are you going to root against somebody, but when you start making 60 footers, when you start firing them from the 60, you’re like ‘uh oh,” Lowe said. “But it was just a beautiful round.
” Mark Mulder, who started the day tied for fifth said his card was tracking Fish’s progress throughout the day. “He’s a bully. It’s not cool.
We’re all trying to catch him and he’s running away from us,” said Mulder. Mulder ended the round tied for fourth with Lowe at 42 points and despite the point difference between him and Fish, he is still playing for first. “I think I’m 15 points back.
So that’s a whole lot of high fiving I need for him to see with me and my son up in front of him,” said Mulder. Mulder went on to say that there is a possibility of getting in Fish’s head if he sees Mulder’s group getting birdies. “I’m not playing for third or fourth or anything, I’m going to try to go make as many birdies or eagles as I can tomorrow, that’s it,” said Mulder.
Joe Pavelski, who played with Mulder, started the day tied for third and birdied the three of the first four holes. “[It] felt good. Then Mardy went six on the back.
And you realize you can be better,” said Pavelski. One interesting wrinkle in Saturday’s round was a weather delay that held players for nearly an hour. “I think for most of us we were just worried about our bodies trying to be able to move after that break because we went over by the maintenance area and sat down with a lot of those guys, and pretty sure we all got stiff,” said Mulder “I put my arms in the air when I actually hit the fairway on 16.
After that break, I was pretty pleased with the tee shot that I hit.” Pavelski said he spent the break bonding with the people around him. “It’s so much fun out here.
Like the golf course is amazing, everything is first-class, but the people, when you’re around them, it’s fun,” said Pavelski. “The delay was interesting. Weird or different.
We didn’t get a shot for almost 45, 50 minutes or so and all of a sudden you’ve got to hit a tee shot on one of the most important holes because they’re the scoring holes at the end,” said Fish. This is the first time in 10 years there has been a weather delay at the ACC. Fish is being chased by Pavelski, who scored 50 and Thielen who scored 45.
.
