Furyk Shoots 62 and Trails by Two

Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods were playing together Friday, and Furyk started well.

Woods started better.

“Jim started out with three straight birdies and couldn’t get the tee,” said Woods, who looked as if he might bolt from the pack at the Doral-Ryder Open in Miami when he began his round birdie-birdie-eagle.

Woods cooled off to a second-round 69, but Furyk stayed hot, using only 24 putts in shooting a 62 to tie Woods at five-under-par 139 midway through the tournament.

That’s two shots behind leaders Tim Herron, Michael Bradley and John Cook.

Scott Hoch, Rocco Mediate and Stewart Cink were one stroke off the lead.

“I started the day trying to make the cut,” said Furyk, who shot an opening-round 77 and called his father for help. “I’ve put myself in contention.”

So have a lot of people. There are 18 players within three shots of the three leaders.

Woods and Furyk are in a logjam with several players, including Curtis Strange, who is trying to win for the first time on tour in nine years; and three-time Doral winner Raymond Floyd, who at 54 is trying to become the oldest to win on the PGA Tour.

Woods and Furyk clearly fed off each other’s good play, but Furyk clearly took control.

As Woods walked up the seventh fairway, he caught the eye of his coach, Butch Harmon, in the gallery, smiled, pointed to Furyk and made a motion with his hand as if he was pulling it out of a flame.

Furyk was so hot he had broken through even Woods’ steely concentration.

Playing the back nine first, he was five strokes behind Woods after 11 holes when he ran off five consecutive birdies, beginning on No. 3, to send murmurs of “course record” through the crowd.

But when a 20-foot putt on No. 8 stopped on the lip and a 15-footer on the final hole curved away at the last inch, he had to settle for tying the mark set by Greg Norman in 1990 and matched in 1993.

Norman shot a 73 and missed the cut with a 147.

Herron made his hay on the front nine, finishing with two birdies and shooting a 32 before playing the back with nine consecutive pars.

Bradley played the back nine first and surged into contention when he started his second nine with an eagle and two birdies, the eagle coming on No. 1 when he hit a driver and a six-iron to 18 feet on the 529-yard hole playing downwind in a 20-mph breeze.

Cook got a share of the lead with a 66.

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Andrew Sherborne carded an eight-under 64 and grabbed a two-shot lead midway through the Qatar Masters at Doha.

Sherborne, an Englishman seeking his first European PGA Tour victory since 1992, made seven birdies and one eagle during his sparkling round that gave him a 36-hole total of 133.

Paolo Quirici of Switzerland was second at 135 after a 66.

Opening-round leader Anders Forsbrand of Sweden shot a 69 and fell into a third-place tie at 136 with countryman Patrik Sjoland.