England’s Lee Slattery was fiercely determined to continue to see Brandel Chamblee choke on his words ahead of playing the third round of the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational in the company of World No. 1 Luke Donald.
Slattery celebrated his birthday 34th by slamming Chamblee’s criticism of his inclusion in this week’s lucrative WGC – Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
The Madrid Masters winner has superbly justified his Firestone appearance in carding a one over par second round 71 to be lying at four under par, and sharing ninth place after two rounds in the elite 78-player field.
It was shortly after his second round Slattery learnt former Tour pro Chamblee, and now a TV analysis with the Golf Channel, had criticised him during the Morning Drive program. (See earlier www.golfbytourmiss.com story)
“At 230th on the world rankings, Lee Slattery doesn’t deserve his place in the field,” said Chamblee.
- Lee Slattery putting his way to a third round tee time with World No. 1 Luke Donald. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
Chamblee competed in 370 Tour events winning just once, and in his 15 odd years on the Tour he finished top-50 also just once.
He’s the same so-called TV analysis who remarked last year that Tiger Woods would never win again, and with Woods having won three times this year, already.
“I’m here because of my Madrid Masters win but then there’s a guy who finished third on the Australasian Tour last year also competing this week,” said Slattery.
“So I earned my place in the field and I feel now after finding my way to second place on day one, and now still lying top-five I’ve justified my place.”
Slattery heads into the third round still ahead of the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell.
And when McDowell was asked by www.golfbytourmiss.com what he thought of Slattery’s effort, the former U.S. Open winner stepped forward to back ‘Slatts’ inclusion in the Firestone field.
“Yeah, it’s a good effort for Slatts first time here,” said McDowell.
“Lee’s always been one of those guys you play with and wonder why he doesn’t do better.
“He’s a perennial fighting for his card. There’s a lot of guys like that that are more than capable of doing it, and all they need is just a little bit of getting the experience and getting the confidence in themselves that they can do it on a big stage.
“It’s all about thinking big, I suppose.
“You’ve got to think beyond 115th on the Money List, and getting into events like this will certainly help him expand his mind a little bit.
“And he’s obviously a good enough player, so great to see him up there.”
