2009 Player's Championship - Day 2 | by Mike Dudurich

2009 Player's Championship - Day 2

Mike Dudurich

Posted 2009-05-08

The jewel of Ponte Vedra Beach is being turned into the International Players Championship, at least through two rounds. The strongest field of the PGA Tour season to this point is being led by a quartet of internationals (players born elsewhere) after two rounds at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course. There have been five international winners since 1988 and such an occurrence is certainly a possibility this year.

Especially when you look at the names at the top this morning: Alex Cejka (Czech Republic), Kevin Na (South Korea), Ian Poulter (England), Angel Cabrera (Argentina).

Cejka, whose father took his family out of Czechoslovakia as its government crumbled when Alex was nine years ago, has put together rounds of 66-67 to get to 11-under par halfway through the Players.

"I played pretty solid. Kind of like yesterday. I really liked playing in the mornings," Cejka said Friday. "We had perfect weather for the first 14 holes. I took advantage of the front nine. I played pretty solid.

The same with putting. Like yesterday, I made a couple of good putts and it always shows. And I'm pretty happy to be double digits in the clubhouse after two rounds."

Cejka might well be the best story in the field. The story of his childhood is the stuff movies are made of.

"I was too young to understand what was going on. My dad told nobody what he was doing. I was nine years old. Back then I didn't know," Cejka said. "For me it was a vacation, so for me it was a smooth ride. Of course probably my dad was nervous as hell just leaving everything behind, taking the son and a little backpack and just leave through three or four countries into the west.

For me it was just a little trip, I guess. As I said, I don't remember really that much. But I think for my father it was quite scary. It wasn't that easy to flee from a Communist country basically."

England's Poulter rattled Sawgrass with five birdies and a bogey on Friday en route to a round of 68 after a 67 Thursday. He's alone at 9-under par, a pair of shots out of the lead. Neither has a major championship to his credit and Na is in that category as well.

The 25-year-old, who played with Cejka, had six birdies and no bogeys Friday to post a 66 and get into a tie with Cabrera, a two-time major champion. Cabrera put up an even more spectacular round than Na. He made 9 birdies on the hard, fast Stadium course and only a pair of bogeys kept him from going really deep.

"When you're playing on a course like this, the way it's set up with pretty good weather it definitely helps our game," Cabrera said. "But regardless, I've got to play it however it ends up being set up. I'll take it however it's set up." Na and Cabrera lead a half-dozen players at 7-under.

Perhaps the most spectacular round of the day came from Daniel Chopra. He posted a 65, but it came in amazing fashion. He recorded eight birdies, and eagle and three bogeys.

As usual, much attention was focused on Tiger Woods on Friday. He's had little success since winning the Players in 2001 and has not returned to the dominant player he was before missing eight months due to reconstructive knee surgery after the U.S. Open last year.

Woods started the day at 1-under par, 10 shots behind Cejka, who had finished his round earlier.

He fought his way back at least into the edge of contention with a 69 on Friday. He's 4-under par, seven shots back.

"This course doesn't take much. You have a couple of lies that are just a little awkward and the next thing you know, you can make some bogeys quickly," Woods said. "It doesn't mean that you hit bad shots. You can get a wind gust that changes. It can switch on you. You can hit a good shot, in a bad spot, wrong side of the slopes. With the rough on a lot of these banks, it ends up in the collection areas."

The cut came at even par 144. Among the players missing the cut: Two-time champions Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Steve Elkington as well as 2004 champ Adam Scott. Other notables include: 2007 Masters champ Trevor Immelman and 2004 British Open titlist Todd Hamilton. Sean O'Hair and Lucas Glover, the top two finishers at the Quail Hollow Championship last week.

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