Woods good to the last drop

DORAL, Fla. -- Tiger Woods knew his last putt was going to drop before it reached the hole Friday afternoon at the CA Championship at Doral.

So did the huddled masses squeezed along the ropes.

With his left hand in the air, like an orchestra conductor about to start a symphony, Woods watched the ball disappear and set off a roar across the Blue Monster.

A spine-tingling Tiger roar.

A day after he fumed off the course with a disappointing finish, Woods closed with an exclamation point. He didn’t birdie only his final hole this time. He birdied the final two holes.

With a pair of eagles on his scorecard Friday, Woods finds himself in prime position to try to win his eighth consecutive worldwide start and his sixth straight PGA Tour event.

His six-under-par 66 was the best round of a blustery day and left only one player above him on the leaderboard.

Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy’s 67 kept him in the lead for a second consecutive day. His 12-under 132 is a shot better than Woods and three ahead of Australia’s Adam Scott (68).

Nobody else is closer than six shots off the lead.

Ogilvy, Woods and Scott will go off in the final pairing with tee times moved up because of forecasts for bad weather.

Those closing birdies energized Woods.

He said the three-putt bogey Thursday infuriated him during the entire ride to his Miami-docked yacht afterward.

“Until Sam came crawling,” Woods said.

That would be Sam Alexis, his 9-month-old daughter.

“Then I don’t even know what I shot after that,” Woods said. “That’s one of the cool things about seeing Sam when I go home.”

Woods’ last birdie was 23 feet, but it took a circuitous path, breaking hard left off a slope and straightening at the end. It came on the ninth hole as he started his round on the back nine. It was a sweet finish after the bitter taste Thursday’s three-putt left in his mouth.

It was also a classic correction by Woods, golf’s master fixer.

Afterward, he spoke about what drives him to never let up.

“I don’t see how you can live with yourself not trying and not giving your best,” Woods said. “I don’t see how you can go home and say, ‘I didn’t give it my best.’ People do that. I don’t know how they do that. That, to me, is unacceptable.

“I’ve got four or five hours out there. I don’t see how you can’t go out and give it everything you have. You’ve got 19 other hours to recover. I don’t see how you can think any other way.”

Ogilvy is looking forward to the weekend.

“Just to get a chance to compete against Tiger is fun,” Ogilvy said. “But to get a chance to beat him is a great opportunity.”

Ogilvy rode a hot putter to the lead. He needed only 23 putts in the second round. He’ll need that hot putter to give Woods his first loss since September.

“He obviously knows how to win a golf tournament,” Ogilvy said. “Winning seven in a row? Six in a row? It’s pretty impressive. That’s a good career.”

Woods is going for his fourth straight victory on the Blue Monster. His scoring average since 2005 at Doral is 67.35.

He’s the man to beat even though he’s not atop the leaderboard, but he takes nothing for granted.

“That’s why you tee it up,” Woods said. “They don’t hand it to you just because of the way you’ve been playing. You have to go out there and earn it.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.