Woods Appears at His Best Again

Even coming off his best round of the year, Tiger Woods isn’t ready to count the Buick Open as his 33rd victory on the PGA Tour and fourth this year.

“You just have to continue to make birdies,” he said. “You can’t go out there and sit around and shoot a couple of 70s out there and know that the tournament is over.”

Woods, playing in his first tournament since his chance for a Grand Slam ended, shot a nine-under 63 Friday and pulled away from the field with a four-stroke lead after two rounds in the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich.

It was his best round since last year’s Byron Nelson Classic and his frequent smiles on the course at Warwick Hills showed he enjoyed it.

“It was an awful lot of fun being out there and hitting the ball this way,” Woods said.

At 10 under are Scott Verplank, who shot a 65, and J.J. Henry, who was five under for the second consecutive day. Verplank’s first win as a professional was the Buick Open in 1988.

Woods has won 15 of 19 tournaments he has led or been the co-leader of after 36 holes.

Woods, who began the day two strokes behind Kent Jones, had five birdies on the front nine and two birdies and an eagle on the back.

He has gone 51 holes without a bogey, dating to the third hole of the final round of the British Open.

The last major, the PGA Championship, is next week at Hazeltine in Minnesota. Woods appears ready for it, although he insists he’s not using the Buick Open as a warmup.

“No, I am not practicing for next week,” Woods said. “I do all that on the range. If I am going to go out there and shape shots for next week, I do that on the range. When I am out there playing, I am trying to win.”

Woods, who has won seven of the last 12 major tournaments including this year’s Masters and U.S. Open, has a chance to add to his impressive resume next week.

If Woods wins the PGA Championship, he would be the first player to win three majors in one year twice.

The Buick Open is one of three tournaments Woods has played in at least three times without winning. The others are the Nissan Open and Phoenix Open.

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James Mason shot a course-record eight-under-par 64 to take a two-stroke lead over Hale Irwin after the first round of the Senior PGA Tour’s 3M Championship at Blaine, Minn.

Mason, the Georgia club pro who played in a group with course designer Arnold Palmer and Miller Barber, birdied seven of the last 12 holes to break the mark of 66 set last year by three players in the first senior event on the TPC of the Twin Cities.

“I keep pinching myself when I see all the stars I’ve seen play on TV and now I’m right there with them,” Mason said.

The round was the lowest of Mason’s 12-event senior career, topping the 65 he shot in May in the opening round of his breakthrough victory in the NFL Golf Classic.

Irwin, who lost in a playoff to Hubert Green last week in the Long Island Classic, had a 66.

Green was another stroke back at 67, and senior rookie Fuzzy Zoeller, Allen Doyle, Sammy Rachels, Rocky Thompson and Leonard Thompson followed at 68.

Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench had the worst round with an 81.