A kindly official beside the 18th green remarked gently: "We can guarantee you won't be on your own tomorrow." To which Padraig Harrington, after a second-round 65 in the $5 million WGC/NEC Invitational here at Firestone yesterday, replied: "Maybe I like it this way."
It was an understandable point of view. At the head of an elite field of 37, Harrington had played his first competitive round on his own - in two hours 50 minutes.
Which is what it was taking some competitors to complete nine holes in the USPGA at Valhalla the previous week.
Meanwhile, Tiger Woods showed no sign of easing back from his relentless pursuit of titles. In fact the slender one-stroke overnight gap began to widen appreciably after he sank a 20-foot putt for an eagle three at the long second - just as he had done on Thursday.
Would-be challengers were knocked further back on their heels when he carded successive birdies from the fourth to the sixth, by which stage Justin Leonard had taken up the challenge. By moving to seven under par for the tournament, the 1997 British Open champion closed the gap to four strokes as they went through the turn, but typically, the bar was raised once more, when the leader birdied the 10th to go to 12 under.
Darren Clarke, who shared third place overnight after an opening 66, improved his position to six under after back-to-back birdies at the second and third. But he missed the green at the difficult short seventh to slip back to five under before regaining it with a birdie at the 10th.
Harrington's score was 11 strokes better than Thursday's, but the most significant aspect of his performance was his physical well-being. "This is the best day I've had for a long time," he said, in a reference to the neck and shoulder injuries which have affected him since the Dutch Open last month.
Though he was offered a partner, he opted to play on his own, with a marker. "Usually I find myself watching the other guys, trying to learn from them," he said. "Maybe the lesson from this is that I should play in my own bubble."
In his best competitive round since winning the Brazil 500 Years Open last April, eight birdies told their own story. And they reflected a succession of beautifully-struck approach irons from which all but one of his birdie putts were inside 12 feet.
Setting himself the target of shooting a 64 to get back to level-par for the tournament, he reached the turn in 33 after four birdies and two bogeys on the outward journey. The first of these was at the long 497-yard second where he needed only a six-iron second shot - the same as Tiger Woods - after his drive had clipped a tree and then received a most fortuitous bounce down a buggy path.
The last of those outward birdies came at the 219-yard seventh where he hit his best shot of the round, a glorious three iron which came to rest 12 feet from the pin.
The homeward journey was even more productive. A 25-foot putt found the hole for a birdie at the 10th and he hit a nine-iron dead for another at the 14th. Then came a bogey at the short 15th, where he missed the green left, but he finished strongly, sinking putts of 10 feet and 12 feet for birdies at the 16th and 18th.
By comparison, it became a tough assignment for Paul McGinley, making his debut at Firestone in the company of Colin Montgomerie. Having complained of miserable fortunes on the greens in an opening 71, his problems lay elsewhere when he carded a wretched triple-bogey seven at the 442-yard third yesterday on the way to a 72.
After blocking his drive into trees on the right, McGinley hit his third shot into the lake guarding the front of the green, which meant it took him five to get on. It then became a struggle and he was three over par for the round after a bogey at the 10th. Birdies at the 11th and 14th were partially offset by a bogey at the last, where he was in rough off the tee.
"That seven at the third was a terrible blow, but putting remains my main problem," he said afterwards. "I'm sinking nothing of any significance." Those words were echoed by Montgomerie after a 69.
