Nick Watney, Sergio Garcia tied at Bethpage

A common phrase this year — “Tiger’s back” — took on a new meaning Friday at the Barclays.

Woods felt a twinge in his lower back when he awoke and felt pain throughout the second round at Bethpage Black. He overcame a bogey-bogey start, struggled in the simple task of retrieving the ball from the cup and stayed within range of Nick Watney and the resurgent Sergio Garcia, who shared the lead at Farmingdale, N.Y.

Woods managed a two-under-par 69, a good effort in the afternoon on greens that tend to get crusty.

Garcia, last week’s winner at the Wyndham Championship, made bogey on the third hole but atoned for that with a tee shot on the par-five fourth that restored his momentum and sent him to a 68.

Watney went eagle-birdie on the par fives on the front nine and then survived a roller coaster of birdies and bogeys on the back nine that gave him a 69.

They were at eight-under 134.

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Teenage star Lydia Ko shot her second consecutive four-under 68 for a share of the lead with Chella Choi in the Canadian Women’s Open at Coquitlam.

Ko, the 15-year-old South Korean-born New Zealander who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur two weeks ago, birdied four of the last seven holes in a bogey-free round to match Choi at eight under.

The 22-year-old Choi, from South Korea, followed her opening 72 with a 64.

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Defending champion Mark Calcavecchia eagled the par-five eighth hole and finished with a seven-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the Boeing Classic at Snoqualmie, Wash.

ETC.

Majerus on medical leave

St. Louis basketball Coach Rick Majerus is taking a leave of absence for at least the upcoming season.

The university said assistant coach Jim Crews will direct the team as interim coach, and that a decision hasn’t been made for the 2013-14 season.

The 64-year-old Majerus is hospitalized in California undergoing evaluation and treatment for an ongoing heart condition, school spokesman Brian Kunderman said.

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Joey Logano used an early pit stop and a dominant car to win at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the first time in the Nationwide Series.

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Redshirt freshman Marcus Mariota has won the job as starting quarterback for No. 5 Oregon.

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Defending champion John Isner advanced to the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Open final, beating France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3).

Isner will face Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Sam Querrey .

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Caroline Wozniacki’s New Haven, Conn., winning streak ended at 20 when the four-time defending champion retired from her semifinal match with Maria Kirilenko because of a knee injury.

Kirilenko will face Petra Kvitova on Saturday. Kvitova beat Italy’s Sara Errani, 6-1, 6-3

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Roberta Vinci won the Texas Open at Grapevine, beating Jelena Jankovic, 7-5, 6-3.