Saturday 24 February 2018 08:00, UK
Tiger Woods declared himself "right there in the ballgame" as he prepares to head into the weekend at the Honda Classic just four shots off the lead.
Woods fired a second-round 71 which proved to be one of the better scores in the tough conditions at PGA National, although he was left to rue two mistakes which cost him three shots towards the end of his round.
The former world No 1 had to overcome a nervy start as he did well to two-putt for par from over 50 feet at the opening hole before pulling his drive into trouble at the second, and he was forced to take a penalty drop and was unable to reach the green with his third.
Woods limited the damage to a bogey with a well-read 10-foot putt and, after missing a decent chance to hit back at the long third, he atoned with a confident stroke from eight feet for birdie at the next.
The 42-year-old then followed a steady run of pars with a perfect 25-foot putt for birdie at the ninth, and the vast crowds were treated to a trademark fist-pump on the 10th green when he holed from 10 feet to save par.
Woods remained just two off the lead until a poor choice of club on the tee at the 15th saw him fail to carry the water hazard, an error which led to a double-bogey five, and he three-putted the 16th green from long range to slip to two over.
But he responded with his best swing of the day, a sublime five-iron to 12 feet at the treacherous 17th, and he produced a putt to match before closing with a cast-iron par at the last.
"I really played well all day," Woods said afterwards. "It was just tough scoring, it really is hard to make birdies and it was hard to get the ball close. Even if the ball is in the fairway, it's still very difficult to get the ball close, with the wind blowing as hard as it is. And once you put the ball in birdie range, it's hard to make putts out here.
"But I'm four back right now, so I'm right there in the ballgame. I feel like I'm right there, I'm right where I can win a golf tournament. You know, four back on this golf course with 36 holes to go, anybody can win this golf tournament right now. It's wide open."
Woods was not happy with his distance control with his irons as he missed the halfway cut at Riviera last week, but he feels he has regained his sharpness in his iron-play despite the hard, fast and blustery conditions in Florida.
He added: "I love Riviera, but I just don't play well there. So here we are back at a golf course I know and I play well at, and I felt like I've hit a lot of good golf shots, especially in this wind. I've controlled my ball flight and, on top of that, I've shaped it both ways and felt very comfortable shaping it both ways. That's very comforting.
"I'm getting there. I feel like I've made some nice tweaks and I'm hitting the ball flush. I'm really controlling the trajectory, and especially here with the wind blowing this hard, I felt that was very important.
"I live here and I practice here, and it's always blowing like this. It's just I don't play a golf course this difficult out here with the rough like this and this kind of set-up. But it's usually blowing here and I feel very comfortable.
"I'm just being very steady, and I'm trying to make a lot of pars and maybe sprinkle in a birdie here and there. It's going to come down to a pretty bunched leaderboard on Sunday.
"It's just so difficult to make birdies out here. It would be a different story if we felt a little bit more comfortable on the greens, if they were a bit smoother, but that's not the case."
