SAN FRANCISCO – Sure, he’s tied for the lead entering the weekend at the 112th U.S. Open Championship, but as the lone tri-leader who isn’t playing in the final pairing, David Toms will go into the third round flying swiftly under the radar.
Just the way he likes it.
“I’m excited about it and I don’t mind flying under the radar at all,” said Toms, who owns just two top-10 finishes in 15 U.S. Open starts. “That’s kind of the way I’ve been my whole career and it’s not a bad way to go.”
While the final pairing will include fellow major champions Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk, Toms will be playing one group ahead, alongside another – albeit much younger – LSU alum in John Peterson.
Toms has posted rounds of 69-70 so far this week – and claims that one of the keys to such play has been an ability to control his emotions.
“What I’ve done well this week is concentrate,” he said. “I can’t think of one shot in the first 36 holes where I didn’t feel like I either had a target or a thought as far as where I wanted to hit a ball, a target that I wanted to hit to, where I wanted to land the ball out of the rough, and which I have hard time with that sometimes, especially on a week-to-week basis, especially when tournaments where you have to shoot low. Sometimes my mind wanders a little bit.
“But I’ve done a good job of that this week, and that was part of the plan going in. No matter what happened I was going to be there on every shot, and so far I have been.”
