September 07, 2018

Tiger Tied for 12th Heading Into the Weekend at the BMW Championship

NEWTON SQUARE, Pa. – Following up a low round is usually tough. That’s how it went for Tiger Woods on Friday on the second day of the BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club.

After fashioning an 8-under-par 62 on Thursday to grab a share of the lead, his lowest round since 2013, Woods could only manage an even-par 70. Unlike the first round, putts refused to fall and his approach shots left difficult birdie chances.

Woods made three birdies and three bogeys and has a 36-hole score of 8-under 132, five strokes behind pacesetter Xander Schauffele (-13).

“That round today was easily 6 or 7-under par,” Woods said. “It turned into even par which is not what I needed today. Everyone is going low and birdies should be had.”

On Thursday, Woods ranked third in proximity to the hole with his approach shots (24.5 feet) and knocked in 94 feet worth of putts on 27 attempts. On Friday, he ranked 54th in the field (37.4) and made just 31 feet of putts using 33 tries.

“As soft of the golf course was, they had a lot of back pins and I couldn’t get back there, skip the ball back there,” said Woods, who played with Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler. “You don’t want to go long. It was a difficult task.”

Using his old Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter for the second consecutive day, he lipped out twice and three-putted once.

“I hit a lot of beautiful putts and didn’t make any,” he said. “It looked like all my putts were going to go in today but they didn’t go in.”

Woods hit 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens at the rain-softened course, where temperatures dropped from the low 90s to the low 70s.

While he wasn’t happy with a bogey-bogey finish, Woods is well within striking distance. He has excelled in third rounds this year and is tied for first on the PGA Tour with a scoring average of 68.36.

Woods tees off Saturday at 12:40 p.m. ET with Ryan Armour.