LYTHAM ST. ANNES – Tiger Woods got his groove back yesterday.
Let that be sufficient warning to the rest of the British Open field as this 130th championship enters weekend play at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
Woods shot a crisp 3-under-par 68 in yesterday’s second round, leaving himself just four shots off Colin Montgomerie’s lead and putting himself in strong position for a run at defending his Open title.
“I’m very happy, very pleased,” Woods said. “I feel pretty good about where I am at right now. To be at 3-under-par, I feel good about that. I felt like I hit the ball a lot better [yesterday] and I felt a lot more comfortable with my swing.
“Consequently, I put the ball in some good spots, made some birdies and also made some great par saves.”
Woods birdied all three par 5s – the 494-yard sixth, 557-yard seventh and the 542-yard 11th. He, too, made a terrific birdie on No. 14, on which he got away with a sprayed tee shot into the right rough and then rolled in a 30-foot bomb of a putt for birdie.
The birdie was made possible by a good lie on matted-down rough on the tee shot.
“Stevie [Williams, Woods’ caddie] said after that kind of break it’s like a car-park birdie,” Woods joked. “Seve [Ballesteros] did it on 16 [in one of his wins at Lytham] and I was fortunate enough to do it on 14.”
Woods’ only hiccup came on 15, when his tee shot landed in a divot and his second shot went into the waist-high rough to the left of the green. Woods left his third shot in a pot bunker and got up-and-down from there to save bogey.
Woods parred out on 16, 17 and 18 to preserve a solid score and keep his day’s work intact.
“Right now we’re just trying to get ourselves up on that board and as close to the lead as possible,” Woods said. “Whether it’s the top players in the world or players that you’re not that familiar with, nonetheless you still have to get up there.”
Woods has eight players above him and he’s tied with eight players at 3-under.
“No matter who’s on the top of that board, you’re still going to have to execute your own golf shots,” Woods said. “I feel pretty good about where I’m at right now.”
That should make the players above him on the leader board feel not so good.