Tiger on the prowl

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Tiger Woods moved into contention at the Buick Open thanks to a second-round 63 in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

Tiger Woods moved into contention at the Buick Open thanks to a second-round 63 in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
Following an opening one-under-par round of 71 that left him eight shots adrift of first-round leader Steve Lowery, the world number one had said he would need to shoot a low score today if he was to have any hope of winning at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club for the third time in his career.
An early-starting Woods came up with the goods as he opened from the 10th tee with four birdies and an eagle, at the par four 12th, over his first five holes.
Four more birdies followed, only a bogey five at the 18th, his ninth of the day, spoiling a scorecard that returned a nine-under-par round, taking him to 10 under for the tournament.
“I felt like I rolled it just a bit like I did yesterday,” Woods said. “Only difference is I took advantage of the position I was driving in.”
The American said he had foregone a routine post-round trip to the practice range yesterday because he had been disappointed with his opening 71.
“I was a little bit hot yesterday, so I decided to just go home and get away from it for a little bit,” he said. “And came out today with a better understanding of what I was going to do and just hit the ball.
“I drove it great yesterday. Just didn’t hit my irons as close and didn’t putt well, so I was just going to drive it just as good today and hit my irons a bit better and see if I can pour some in.”
Woods’ 63 put him in an early tie for third place with Michael Letzig taking the clubhouse lead at 12 under following a 65. Vaughn Taylor’s 68 moved him to 11 under with Kevin Stadler shooting a 67 and Roland Thatcher a 64 to get them to 10 under alongside Woods.
Lowery, whose opening 63 had given him the overnight lead, birdied his opening hole and he was 10 under after five holes of his second round.
Australian John Senden was the leading international player, one under for his round after three holes, nine under for the tournament alongside four Americans in the clubhouse, Mark Brooks, Tory Matteson, Leif Olsen and Charles Warren, who shot a 65.
England’s Greg Owen shot a 69 to move to seven under for the week at the halfway stage and was the leading European by some distance as Martin Laird of Scotland and Swedish duo Daniel Chopra and Fredrik Jacobson all found themselves the wrong side of the projected cut line at three under par.
Laird was level par for his round after eight holes and two strokes from safety at one under par, while Chopra carded a 73 to finish at even par for the week and Jacobson was four over for the day, one over for the tournament having played nine holes.
No one’s round was as difficult as John Daly’s, however.
The American former Open and US PGA champion shot a second-round 88 that had begun with birdies at the 10th and 13th holes before unravelling with two bogeys, two double bogeys, a triple, a quadruple and quintuple-bogey 10 at the par-five first.

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