Woods Falters but Still Leads Western Open

After a fast start, Tiger Woods fell into one of those maddening stretches that would endear him to anyone who has ever picked up a club.

He didn’t drive the ball very well, and his irons weren’t much better. He found himself under trees, in the sand and off the green. About the only thing he did well was putt, and he didn’t give himself enough birdie chances for it to really matter.

Yet at the end of Friday’s second round, there he was, still atop the leaderboard at the 100th Western Open.

“If I would have played better and still shot this number, I would have been pretty hot,” said Woods, whose two-under-par 70 was good enough for a one-stroke lead at 11-under 133. “But the way I drove it on the back nine and some of the iron shots I hit in there, yeah, you’re a little bit disappointed.

“I hung in there and I didn’t shoot myself out of the tournament, and I kept myself there at the top of the board. So overall, it was still pretty good.”

Several players had a chance to knock Woods off the leaderboard -- or at least make him move over. But one by one, they fell short.

David Toms (69) was one shot back, and Cliff Kresge (68) and Scott Verplank (65) were two behind. Robert Allenby (67) was three strokes off the lead, while U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk (66), Robert Damron (69), Mike Weir (70) and Heath Slocum (70) were all four shots back.

“He’s one of the few guys that, when he’s on, he can run away and hide from you because he’s that good,” Toms said of Woods. “But there’s going to be a lot of guys that will be close, and hopefully we’ll still be close on Sunday afternoon.”

Woods tied a course and tournament record with a 63 in the first round Thursday, a resounding answer to all those who say he’s in a slump. And he looked as if he might go even lower when he started Friday.

He tapped in a one-footer for birdie on the first hole, then made a 15-footer for birdie on the third. After two-putting from 30 feet on the par-five 5th, he was at 12-under and looking as if he was going to have another great round.

“I got off to a perfect start,” he said. “I just didn’t quite keep it going.”

With Woods in the clubhouse, Toms took a shot at the lead. He was at nine-under after only six holes but had bogeys on the next two.

On the par-four 17th, he sent his second shot flying over the grandstands behind the green. He couldn’t take a drop because there was a tree in his way, so he went up and over the tent, getting up-and-down for the bogey.