Some Royal and Ancient History in Woods’ Sights

It was Jack Nicklaus’ day, but Friday at the British Open didn’t turn out too badly for Tiger Woods, who keeps finding new ways to wreak havoc at the Old Course.

This time it was a five-under-par 67, which means that either Woods is in the driver’s seat at 11-under 133 after two rounds, or they’re going to start printing money with his picture on it, as they did with Nicklaus.

Nice start?

“You might say that,” Woods said.

As Nicklaus ended his major championship career and missed the cut in his 38th and final British Open, Woods set his sights on winning his second, and the 10th major of his career.

He’s got a four-shot lead over Colin Montgomerie with two rounds left, but Woods has no intention of getting ahead of himself. Sure, he won here five years ago by eight shots, but don’t ask Woods if this feels like another runaway.

“If you can predict the future, then tell me. I don’t know,” he said. “Otherwise, I just need to continue what I’m doing.”

And that would be to take advantage of conditions at the Old Course, which is another way of saying take your best shot and be thankful the wind isn’t blowing a ton.

Woods drove the ninth green, the 10th green and the 12th green for the second day in a row, never came close to a bogey and added another chapter to his joyriding through the Old Course. In his last six rounds here, he’s a combined 30 under par.

Of course, he was 19 under in 2000 when he won at the Old Course, but Woods doesn’t necessarily want to be reminded.

“I could care less,” he said. “Thinking of 2000 is not going to help me hit a golf shot out there. It doesn’t get any more complicated than that. I’ve got to be in the present.”

So at present, it’s Tiger and everybody else, although that could change in a hurry. Montgomerie established himself as a contender with a stirring round of 66, moving into contention for his first major title at the age of 42.

Born in Glasgow, about a two-hour drive from here, Montgomerie is an easy fan favorite, but he hasn’t given his gallery a great deal to cheer about in the past. In 15 appearances in the British Open, he has one top-10 finish. At the Old Course, Montgomerie missed the cut in 1995 and tied for 26th in 2000.

But with three birdies over the last five holes, Montgomerie was doing the opposite of fading this time. He will be paired with Woods today and he’s looking forward to it.

“I look forward to the whole atmosphere of the day,” Montgomerie said.

What Montgomerie isn’t looking forward to, or wanting to discuss all that much, is that he may have a first-hand look at the continuation of a Tiger trend.

“There’s a lot of uneven bounces out here and things can go wrong,” Montgomerie said. “But in saying that, if Tiger Woods plays the way that Tiger Woods can play around this type of golf course, I would have to agree with a number of players that second place is what we’re doing.

“Andy Roddick said it at Wimbledon, ‘I guess I’m just glad I’m the second-best player in the world.’ So we are watching here a unique golfer on a unique golf course.

“Of course, if Tiger stutters at all, and stuttering is a couple under [par] for Tiger, right, well, that gives us a chance.”

Within five shots of Woods is Vijay Singh, who shot his second successive 69 and is the big name in a seven-player group at six-under 138 that also includes Brad Faxon, who shot a 66 Friday after surviving qualifying for the Open last weekend.

Woods says he is not exactly in the dark about who’s chasing him.

“I know who they are,” he said. “Yeah, there are some good names, but I have to take care of my own business.”

Jose Maria Olazabal, a two-time Masters champion, showed he wasn’t going away when he sank an eagle putt from the “Valley of Sin” to end his round of 70.

He’s part of the group at 138, which also includes Scott Verplank, 25-year-old South African Trevor Immelman, Peter Lonard and Robert Allenby, who shot 68 playing with Woods and Olazabal.

The Woods-Olazabal-Allenby trio is a combined 23 under par so far.

By the time Woods began Friday, he was tied for the lead at six under and his mission was clear.

“The whole idea was to shoot something in the 60s today, which I did,” he said. “Even though I missed a couple of opportunities.”

He didn’t miss many.