Eagle putt, par saves earn Woods a 3-under 68
Tiger Woods took advantage of an early starting time and warm, humid conditions to shoot a 3-under-par 68 Friday in the second round of the $6.5 million AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
He has a 36-hole score of 2-under 140 and trails leader Hunter Mahan at 7-under 135.
Temperatures were expected to reach 100 degrees in the afternoon.
“It’s playing like an Open course, it really is,” Woods said. “It’s quick, it’s dry. At least the TOUR moved up a couple tees. It was scorable, but definitely not easy.”
An early back-nine starter with K.J. Choi and Nick Watney, Tiger opened with six straight pars, including two key saves at Nos. 14 and 15, before jump-starting his round with a 48-foot eagle putt at the 579-yard, par-5 16th hole. Woods hit a 339-yard drive and reached the green in two from 245 yards.
“That was actually a tricky putt because it was a double-breaking putt up that hill,” Woods said. “It’s hard left and then just wants to feed back a couple balls to the right, and I was just waiting for it to feed back because it was hanging, hanging, hanging, and then it just fell right in.”
With temperatures in the low 80s, Tiger followed with pars at Nos. 17 and 18 to make the turn in 2-under 33.
Woods bogeyed the par-4 first hole, where he drove into the left rough, came up short-left of the green with his second shot, hit a nice sand wedge to within six feet of the hole and missed the par putt.
Tiger steadied by making three consecutive pars.
At the 413-yard, par-4 fifth hole, Woods hit a nice drive and knocked his second shot from 122 yards to seven feet from the cup and made the birdie putt. Tiger had a good opportunity to birdie the par-5 sixth, where he hit his second shot with a 6-iron into the left greenside bunker and blasted to about eight feet, but he couldn’t convert.
Woods two-putted the 186-yard, par-3 seventh hole from 18 feet, then birdied the short, 354-yard, par-4 eighth. At the latter, he hit a good drive and flagged his approach shot from 137 yards just inside three feet.
Woods had a chance to close with another birdie at the par-5 ninth, but drove into the right rough. His 4-iron second shot came up 35 yards short of the green, and he wedged to 15 feet and two-putted.
For the second consecutive day, Tiger hit 11 of 18 greens and seven of 14 fairways in regulation. He improved his putting, using 27 after needing 29 Thursday.
“I feel very good about what I’m doing,” Woods said of his putting. “Notah Begay and I were working on a few things the other day and liked what I was doing. Today, I felt very comfortable.”
Woods said the hot weather and humidity do not bother him because he trains in similar conditions almost every day in Florida.
“That’s why I run all those miles and lift all those weights,” Woods said. “This is when fitness does help, and I figured that’s one of the reasons why I’ve had the success I’ve had in the elements.”
On Saturday, he draws a 12:50 p.m. ET starting time on the first tee with Bo Van Pelt.
