WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Bubba Watson kept straddling Friday’s cut line at the Greenbrier Classic until a late stretch of three birdies changed his perspective.
A 67 that moved Watson to 4-under featured birdies on the fifth, sixth and seventh holes — the kind of momentum putts he has been missing of late.
“I was one swing away from missing the cut and one swing away from feeling like I have change to win,” he said. “Those three birdies in a row changes the momentum quite a lot.”
Still eight shots behind leader Sebastian Muñoz and tied for 19th, Watson nonetheless hoped for a weekend climb to invigorate the fans who lived through last year’s historic flooding.
“I wish that one guy wasn’t up there so high — I would be closer to the lead,” he said. “If there was a chance I could have any kind of hope to win on Sunday, get some cheers going, get the people to understand that we all care for them.”
Mickelson makes it … barely
Phil Mickelson hoped to make a surge up the leaderboard but instead settled for barely making the cut with Friday’s 72.
He bogeyed the 15th after missing a 5-foot putt, lost a stroke on No. 3 when a 6-footer went awry and later pushed a 5-foot par putt wide on No. 7.
“There’s no excuse,” Mickelson said. “The greens are perfect. Just haven’t been able to putt well. I just haven’t started them on the right line and had the right speed.”
After early exits in three previous trips to the Greenbrier, Mickelson waxed positive about sticking around for the weekend this time.
“Looks like the first time I’m going to make the cut here, so baby steps,” he said. “I cut it close with those late bogeys.”
Lovemark makes a charge
Let down by his putter this season, Jamie Lovemark found his stroke during Friday’s round of 6-under 64.
Wary of becoming of too preoccupied with misses, the 29-year-old Southern Cal alumnus said he merely has tweaked his setup and revisited fundamentals.
“Sometimes, yeah, if it’s so bad that you try to work on your stroke a little bit and you get down the rabbit hole of tying too hard,” he said. “Putting is a fickle, fickle part of the game.”
Still seeking his first PGA win after 112 tour events, Lovemark played bogey-free to climb into a tie for sixth at 7 under.
Kraft makes morning eagle
Kelly Kraft enjoyed another productive day, shooting 66 to join the group at 7 under. Starting with a morning tee time on No. 10, his eagle from 78 yards on the par-4 16th hole preceded a birdie on No. 17.
“The greens were receptive,” he said. “Warming up it was kind of misting and a little gusty. I’m gong, ‘Man, I hope we didn’t get he bad draw here.’ But once we got out to No,. 10 it calmed down.”
Tracking the West Virginians, qualifiers
Charleston’s Christian Brand fell short of the cut at 2-over and WVU amateur Alan Cooke of Vienna finished 13 over.
Daniel Obremski, the Pennsylvania native who earned Monday’s final qualifying spot in a playoff, also eked inside the Greenbrier cut at 1-under.
Quotable
“You know, we’re still trying to decide when Danny is getting married. He’s been talking about it for a while.” — Watson razzing defending champ Danny Lee
“What makes it tough right now is the fringes and the fairways are soft, and the greens are bouncing. So some of the front pins you land a foot short and it stays there. If you land a yard on it’s 15 feet by.” — Nick Taylor, among the group tied at 7 under after his Friday 69.