Sabbatini 'lost some brain cells' down the stretch

First-round leader Rory Sabbatini, after getting to 8 under at one point Friday, stumbled a bit down the stretch with a couple of bogeys on the front nine (his back) to finish with a 70. He is 1 stroke behind co-leaders Mark Wilson and Tiger Woods.

"I'm still hitting the ball well, just lost some brain cells out there today," Sabbatini said. "The brain was a little haywire for a few holes and I needed to re-correct things and just get myself back, and I managed to do that coming down the final stretch there.

"Just unfortunately not able to capitalize on some good birdie opportunities today."

Oh, those greens: For the second straight day, the talk from many players was how hard - literally and figuratively - it is to hit and stick the greens at Cog Hill.

"These greens are very difficult," co-leader Tiger Woods said. "They're making ball marks but they're not stopping. They're kind of hitting and releasing. It's a tough setup."

Kind of U.S. Openish?

"Yeah, we were alluding to that today," Woods said. "Imagine these greens being baked out like they were at Torry Pines? How are you going to get to some of these flags?

"These greens, as I said, they're making ball marks. What if they're not making ball marks?"

Taking the cake: How can you not root for a guy like Padraig Harrington?

Even after cranking his drive on No. 18 so far right it ended up somewhere in the maintenance complex and forced him to scramble like heck for a bogey, there was Harrington in the media center afterward smiling like he had just won the tournament.

"How could you not?" said Harrington, who has put together back-to-back 68s and is just 1 shot off the lead. "Every day you wake up to a lifestyle like I have playing professional golf. As I always say, I'd play this game for free, just don't tell anybody.

"No matter how bad it's going, you'd still rather be out there trying and working it out. Every day is a good day on the golf course."

FYI: Players currently ranked 15th or higher in the FedExCup standings are assured of finishing among the top 30 and reaching the Tour Championship in two weeks.

Starting later: Tee times for Saturday's third round have been moved up approximately 30 minutes to 7:30 a.m.