By Rahul Banerji
Tiger Woods overcame a poor start with a rousing second day performance even as Justin Thomas fired a second successive 7-under 65 for the halfway lead at the Zozo Championship on Friday.
Woods struggled through Thursday with a 4-over par 76, his worst start on the Sherwood course, where he has won multiple times in the past and was down in 75th place in the 78-srong field.
Friday though, was another story.
Tiger, who won the inaugural Zozo Championship last year for a record equalling 82nd PGA Tour victory, matched his career-best improvement by being 10 shots better in his second round of 6-under 66.
He still goes into the weekend 12 shots behind Thomas, but in a much better frame of mind.
Converting chances
Tiger’s biggest climb came on five of the par 5s at Sherwood, where he was four-under on day two against being three-over in his first round.
“Played the par 5s better,” said the 44-year-old, who has won five times previously at the venue.
“I felt like I really didn’t swing the club that poorly on Thursday. I was just a fraction off and I got out of position a couple times and it just snowballed into a high number.
“Today was a lot more sharp and a lot more crisp and clean.”
On Friday, he made eight birdies against two bogeys, and looked a different golfer from day one.
“Overall I hit the ball so much better,” Tiger was quoted as saying on tigerwoods.com.
‘More sharp, more crisp’
“Yesterday was not that sharp and today was a lot more sharp and a lot more crisp and clean.”
On Friday, he was on 10 of 13 fairways and well places to make the most of the par-5s after making bogey or more on the first day. On Friday, his two dropped shots came from two missed six-foot par putts.
“I feel like I’m able to draw the ball a little bit better,” he said.
“And I need to get a little bit more sharp with it, start setting up a little bit higher than I am right now.”
Tiger’s back has been the subject of much discussion in the last couple of years, and he told the website he was fine.
“That’s just the nature of my back. I wish it could be good all the time. I have moments where it’s not as elastic as I’d like it to be.
“Unfortunately the US Open did not help with the long rough, and did not drive it in the fairway enough times and put a lot of stress on it and shot high numbers.
“But I am moving a lot better. Having four weeks off was good, training sessions have been good, so everything’s kind of turned around.”
Also read: Tiger headlines star-studded Zozo Championship field
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