Birdies galore in intriguing Bubba show

Bubba Watson and Justin Rose put on an amazing show of birdies in blustery conditions at Doral, making 17 between them while playing in the same group at the Cadillac Championship yesterday. Their playful feud was decided by Watson's eagle, giving him a 10-under 62 and a one-shot lead. Watson belted a 3-iron that barely got over a palm tree, carried over the water into the wind and settled 6 feet away on the par-5 eighth for an eagle putt that gave him a one-shot lead over Rose. Mark Wilson, the third in that group, shot a respectable 70 and was just along for the ride. "They did everything right," Wilson said. "It was some of the best golf I've seen collectively between them." Watson was at 12-under 132 and will get to play again in the final group with Rose, who had to settle for a 64. Despite the steady wind, there were plenty of low scores on the Blue Monster. The average score was 69.9, close to three strokes easier than the opening round. There were 12 scores in the 60s on Thursday, and 31 on Friday. Tiger Woods played bogey-free for a 67 and lost ground. He moved up the leaderboard, but was seven shots behind going into the weekend, with 14 players ahead of him. Rory McIlroy, in his first tournament as world No 1, managed a 69, 10 off the lead. Perhaps most peculiar about Watson being atop the leaderboard at Doral is he doesn't like the course and can't figure out where he's supposed to hit the ball. But he kept hitting it long, had short irons into the greens and made his share of putts. That works just about anywhere. As always, there were a few shots only Watson can see. He was so far left of the sixth fairway, a tree blocked his path to the green. Watson had only 135m to the hole but instead of playing a sand wedge, he used a 9-iron and aimed it some 20m right of the green, slicing it back into the left-to-right wind beyond the hole until the wind pushed it back on the descent. It landed two metres from the cup. His caddie, Ted Scott, keeps notes of how Watson plays each hole. Next to the 9-iron from 135 yards, he put "Wow". He went from one shot behind to one shot ahead of Rose, who had nothing to apologise for with his 64, including four birdies in a five-hole stretch. Rose was among those caught up in the Bubba show: "I don't let it influence my game plan but definitely you keep one eye on him. "When he hits tee shots, there's a bit of disbelief, or he curves one, starts one in the trees and there's 'ooohing' and 'aahhhing'. No one knows what to expect." Meanwhile, New Zealand's Danny Lee was tied for 15th at the Puerto Rico Open after a second round 70 to match that same score in his first round. He is seven shots off the leader, Australia's Matt Jones.