Richard Coughlan was physically exhausted but clearly delighted after a splendid, second round of 68 in the $2 million Doral-Ryder Open in Miami yesterday. It meant he had turned the threat of an early departure after an opening 74 into an anticipated top-20 place going into the weekend.
Coughlan's confident handling of the celebrated Blue Monster course in temperatures above 80 degrees, was reflected in six birdies, three on each nine. "I'm really pleased to have proved to myself that I'm at the races," he said afterwards. "By making four out of five cuts, I know I can compete out here.
"The difference today was in my putting. After yesterday's round, I asked Bob Rotella (an American guru) to look at my stroke and he noticed I was taking the putter back on the inside. Now that I've squared things up and the stroke feels really good."
The reward was a fine return of 28 putts for the round, eight of them singles. But there was also come powerful play from tee to green, notably a three-wood second shot of 270 yards at the long 12th - "a real bomb" - where he reached a greenside trap for an up-and-down birdie four.
Having been at the tail-end of the field on Thursday, Coughlan was an early starter yesterday, off the 10th. And he was soon into his stride, sinking a 25-footer for a birdie at the 11th, followed by that four at the long 12th. But he dropped a stroke at the short 13th where he pulled a five-iron into a bunker.
From there, he covered the next 10 holes in four under, with birdies at the 16th (10-foot putt), long first (on in two), the second (15footer) and the fifth (25-footer). Particularly impressive was the manner in which he reduced the opening hole to a huge drive and a seven-iron second shot of 180 yards.
While luminaries such as Greg Norman and Nick Price - both with double-bogeys - came to grief on the notorious, 433-yard 18th, Coughlan handled it like a veteran. After a long drive, he reached the back of the green with a seven iron and then got down in two putts for a solid par.
His only bogey, other than the 14th was at the fifth, where he misjudged his approach iron into the wind. "It's a helluva course," he said. "I can't remember when I've seen so many fairway bunkers. The temptation is to leave the driver in the bag but that means leaving yourself with really difficult second shots."
So, he used the driver most of the time and succeeded in coping with the odd visit to sand. Like at the 14th, where he hit a seven-iron recovery of 172 yards onto the green for a two-putt par and at the 16th, where a nine-iron recovery landed 10 feet from the pin for a birdie.
"Naturally I like my position, particularly after the way I played on Thursday," he went on. "But I need to make a few more 68s if I'm to get into the real money. I've found it really tough physically playing these last five weeks but mentally I'm strong, particularly when the putts are dropping."
