Second-round 68 puts Woods in good position

Tiger Woods wasn’t thrilled with his score, but he lurks only two shots off the lead after two rounds of the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC Boston in Norton, Mass. After opening with a 7-under-par 64, he shot a 68 Saturday and is tied for third place at 10-under 132, two strokes behind leader Rory McIlroy in the second leg of FedExCup playoffs.

“I didn’t make anything today,” lamented Woods, who used 28 putts Friday and 30 on Saturday. “I hit it pretty good and just made nothing.”

Woods said his setup was off, but corrected it midway through the back nine.

“From 13 on, I poured it pretty good,” he said. “I just got my lines organized.”

Paired with Nick Watney and Brandt Snedeker for the second straight day, Woods got off to a fast start with birdies on the first two holes. At the 365-yard, par-4 first, he hit a wedge from 80 yards to five feet and made the putt. Tiger reached the green in two at the 542-yard, par-5 second and two-putted from 36 feet.

Woods lost a stroke at the 180-yard, par-3 third, where he pushed his tee shot into the right greenside bunker, blasted eight feet from the cup and two-putted. He made a nice par save at the short par-4 fourth, where he popped up a 3-wood into a bunker 48 yards from the green, hit his second shot into the left greenside bunker and got up and down.

Tiger just missed a 17-foot birdie attempt at the par-4 fifth, then hit two nice shots at the 465-yard, par-4 sixth, flagging a pitching wedge four feet below the hole and sinking the birdie putt. Woods almost made a scrambling birdie at the par-5 seventh, where he hit a nice third shot from well left of the green to 10 feet but lipped out the putt.

At the 221-yard, par-3 eighth, Tiger did well to two-putt from 51 feet, scaring the hole with his birdie try. He gave himself another great birdie chance at the 461-yard, par-4 ninth, where he knocked a wedge just inside 10 feet. Woods got a good read from Watney but missed the left-to-right putt to make the turn in 2-under 34.

Tiger continued to give himself good birdie opportunities. At the 425-yard, par-4 10th, he failed to convert from 10 1/2 feet. Woods hit a 5-iron to the 236-yard, par-3 11th but wound up 48 feet below the pin. He left his birdie attempt 10 feet short and then missed his second try, sustaining a three-putt bogey.

Woods two-putted the par-4 12th hole from 36 feet, then missed a 15-foot birdie try at the par-4 13th. At the 495-yard, par-4 14th, he knocked his approach shot 30 feet from the cup, but he got a nice read from Snedeker and rolled in the birdie putt.

“I saw what that putt did late,” Woods said. “I had a hard time figuring out what it was going to do. I switched my read up a little bit and knocked it in.”

After a good drive at the 421-yard, par-4 15th, Tiger hit a poor approach shot from 138 yards about 29 feet from the hole and easily two-putted. He punched a beautiful 8-iron eight feet from the cup at the 164-yard, par-3 16th, but was fooled by the break, missing right.

At the 396-yard, par-4 17th, Woods found the fairway and hit a 9-iron from 150 yards within 14 feet of the hole and buried the birdie putt.

Looking to close with a birdie at the 516-yard, par-5 18th, Tiger pulled his drive into the left rough and had to lay up with his second shot, leaving himself 107 yards to the pin. His third shot came up short of the putting surface and rolled down into a swale, but Woods hit a wonderful flop shot two feet from the cup to salvage par.

“I was just trying to cut a little sand wedge and use that ridge on the left, and I upshot it too much into the wind,” Tiger said. “It just killed it. I know better than that.”

After missing just two greens in regulation on Friday, Woods hit 14 of 18 on Saturday.

“I’m kind of right there,” said Tiger, who won the tournament in 2006 and has twice finished as runner-up. “There’s a bunch of guys stacked up. When the golf course gets like this, it’s gettable, because all the par-5s are reachable, and the greens are receptive enough that you can attack.”

Ten players are within four shots of McIlroy. However, swirling winds and tough pin placements should keep players honest the next two days.

“The wind was dancing all over the place,” Woods said. “There were some dicey pins, too. They put them out there in some pretty good spots, which is good.”

Tiger tees off Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET with Ryan Moore in the second-to-last twosome.