Woods puts himself back in the picture with a 66

Standing in the rough at the bottom of a steep slope behind the sixth green, Tiger Woods was getting close to missing the cut in his own tournament. He needed a terrific shot just to have a chance for a bogey that would put him nine shots behind the leader.

Sure enough, he hit a terrific shot.

The ball landed six feet from the hole. “Pure luck,” Woods called it, but the bogey was the turning point of his round.

He gained shots on his next three holes, a birdie-birdie-birdie finish for a four-under-par 66, matching Mike Weir for the best score of the day.

Woods was at one-under 139 at the halfway point of the AT&T; National on Friday, tied for 12th but with a lot of work still to do in his inaugural event as a tournament host.

Stuart Appleby and K.J. Choi shared the lead, both having somewhat tamed the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club with rounds of 66 and 67 for a seven-under total of 133.

“I’m back in the tournament,” Woods said, “and hopefully I can shoot another round in the 60s tomorrow and move my way up the board.”

The turnaround from Woods’ 73 on Thursday was stark. He made only two bogeys instead of seven. He needed only 25 putts instead of 34. He didn’t have a single three-putt. He made six putts longer than eight feet -- including a 22-footer at No. 12 -- after missing everything from eight feet and beyond the day before.

His secret? He put some lead tape on his putter, forcing him to swing harder after leaving so many putts well short of the hole the day before.

Appleby, who made a 16-foot putt to save par at No. 18 and has only two bogeys in the tournament, isn’t about to concede that he has a comfortable lead over the world’s No. 1 golfer.

“You always expect him to be there, so it becomes pretty much standard practice,” Appleby said.

Phil Mickelson (74-73) and Adam Scott (72-76) missed the cut at four-over 144.