Woods six back at East Lake after adventurous 73

Some days, you just don’t have it. Friday was such a day for Tiger Woods in the TOUR Championship at East Lake Club Golf in Atlanta.

Starting the second round tied for the lead, he struggled from start to finish, making five bogeys and a double bogey, and wound up with a 3-over-par 73. He is now tied for 12th at 1-under 139, six strokes behind leader Jim Furyk.

“Yep, golf,” said Woods, after posting his worst score in 14 years at East Lake — he shot a second-round 76 in 1998 — and his first over-par round on the course since a 72 in 2004.

Paired with Justin Rose, Tiger bogeyed the par-4 first hole and double-bogeyed the par-4 eighth. He carded birdies at the par-4 third, par-4 seventh and par-5 ninth to make the turn in even-par 35.

But on the back nine, Woods bogeyed the par-3 11th, par-4 12th, par-4 16th and par-4 17th holes. His lone birdie came at the par-4 13th. Only a great save at the par-3 18th hole prevented further damage.

“I didn’t play very good today,” he said. “Didn’t hit it very good, and definitely didn’t putt well. So it was a struggle all day.”

Tiger hit only eight of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens in regulation, and used 32 putts.

“I figured something out on the back nine with my stroke, which was good,” Woods said. “But I still need to hit the ball better than I did today.”

Woods remains very much in contention for not only the TOUR Championship, but also the $10 million bonus for winning the FedExCup points title. He trailed only Rory McIlroy on the points list coming into the tournament, but needs a strong weekend to capture the FedExCup title for the third time.

“I’m still right there,” he said. “This golf course is playing tough. But some of the pins are pretty accessible. But you’ve got to get the ball on the fairway. This Bermuda rough is thin enough where the ball is sitting down at the bottom. It’s just really hard to judge how far it’s going to go.”

Were it not for some nifty scrambling, Woods would be much further off the pace. He hit a fabulous fairway bunker shot at the third hole despite the ball being almost completely buried. Tiger muscled a 9-iron six-feet from the cup and converted the putt.

“One of the best shots I’ve ever played,” Woods said.

On Saturday, Tiger tees off at 12:50 p.m. ET with Luke Donald.