Golf-Tiger on the tail of leaders Poulter and Westwood (Reuters)
April 9, 2010
* Woods surges into title contention
* Poulter and Westwood share Masters lead
By Mark Lamport-Stokes
AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 9 (Reuters) – Tiger Woods returnedto familiar territory in typically gritty fashion at the U.S.Masters on Friday, surging ominously into contention with twoback-nine birdies in the second round at Augusta National.
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Looking composed at one of his favourite venues and showingno sign of rust in his first tournament for nearly five months,the world number one ground out a two-under-par 70 to lie twostrokes off the lead.
Engaging with the fans at every opportunity, Woods rolled ina 20-foot putt at the 13th before sinking a 12-footer at the15th on the way to a six-under total of 138.
The four-times champion will go into Saturday’s third roundtwo shots behind British pacesetters Ian Poulter and LeeWestwood.
Poulter fired a five-birdie 68, his only blemish coming atthe last where he missed a seven-foot par putt, while Westwoodbriefly got to 10 under before stumbling over the closingstretch to a 69.
“It feels good to be back and in contention,” Woods toldreporters after finishing level with playing partner KJ Choi ofSouth Korea (71) and long-hitting fellow American Ricky Barnes(70).
“I usually put myself in contention most years here and thisyear I’m right there. We’ve got 36 more holes and I’m sure thegolf course, they are not going to make it easy for us.”
Poulter, who won his first PGA Tour title at the eliteWGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in February, was delightedto share the 36-hole lead in the year’s opening major.
“This is a nice position to be in and obviously winning acouple of months back is a huge factor in playing well thisweek,” the Englishman said.
“I’m in a position now where I can go out and be aggressiveon the golf course. But it’s only Friday so I don’t want to getcarried away.”
Again watched by huge galleries on his highly anticipatedreturn to competition after a self-imposed break, Woods recordedhis first birdie at the par-five second where he chipped in fromjust off the green to three feet.
ACKNOWLEDGED CHEERS
Wearing a green shirt, black sweater and black trousers, theAmerican tipped his cap to acknowledge the cheers from the crowdpacked around the second green.
Woods, who wore sunglasses in between every shot due to theglare and high pollen count, stumbled at the par-three fourthwhere he pulled his iron shot well left after twice changingclubs on the tee.
From behind the left greenside bunker he hit a lob wedge to10 feet but missed the par putt to slip back to four underoverall.
Woods was again in crowd-pleasing mode, having promised onMonday to give more respect to the game and the fans followingstartling revelations about his extra-marital affairs at the endof last year.
After teeing off at the par-three sixth he spotted a youngboy wearing a baseball cap with ‘TW’ emblazoned on the front andhe put a huge grin on the youngster’s face by giving him afriendly hand slap as he walked by.
Woods failed to birdie the par-five eighth, which he hadeagled the previous day, his wedge approach screwing back 75feet from the pin and he did well to two-putt from there forpar.
Out in level-par 36, he surged up the leaderboard with hisbirdies at 13 and 15, the first of them prompting him to raisehis putter skywards in celebration.
Woods is bidding to become the first player to launch hisseason with a major victory since fellow American Ben Hoganclinched the 1953 Masters.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez. To query or comment on this storyemail sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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