Tiger sets up back nine charge with magical approach

(Reuters)

After one of the most thrilling back nines of his career - and therefore one of the most thrilling in the history of golf - Tiger Woods strode into a tie for second here at the US Open. So much for a sore knee scuppering his chances of a 14th major. With his putter this hot he could prevail on one leg.

It would certainly take the most stubborn of idiots to carry on peddling the theory that he simply cannot win after a nine-week absence following surgery. He gave 30 very good reasons to discount that bunkum. It was the second-best inward score ever in the US Open as he produced six threes and three fours with a clinical display of putting.

The 68 took him to two-under and within one of the second-round lead held by the Australian Stuart Appleby. Meanwhile, there is healthy British interest with Lee Westwood on one-under and Luke Donald on level. However, on a major Friday louder than any before, Woods was inevitably the man commanding all the noise.

“I just made a few putts coming in,” was his nonchalant reaction. “My aim was to get to level par. I did a bit better than that.”

Indeed he did, as Phil Mickelson would testify. Having beaten his supposedly crocked playing partner by a stroke on Thursday, the world No 2 watched in horror as the brilliance of No 1 effected a seven-shot turnaround. Mickelson’s strange game-plan to use only three-woods off the tee – and then to proceed to find the deep stuff with miserable monotony – was one of the principal factors in his 75. Although being in the proximity of his inspired nemesis was doubtlessly another.

Mickelson could not have expected the charge on a front nine in which Woods was a pale shadow of himself. In fact, nobody, not even Woods himself, could have expected it.

Staring on the 10th, Woods took two bogeys on the opening three holes and despite an eagle on the 13th, further blemishes on the 16th and 17th highlighted his indifferent form. As he limped from fairway to green it seemed the injury was holding him back, but then it all changed on the first (his 10th). He was fortunate to find a gap to play through after slicing his drive but with his spikes on a cart-path it was a worrying moment.

He ignored the pain that shot up his leg and hit a sumptuous eight-iron to 20 feet. He holed that birdie attempt, just as he was to from similar distances on the second fourth and fifth. Incredibly he had five threes in succession on his card, an almost unprecedented run of figures at the US Open. Another birdie on his last hole, the par-five ninth, finished off a spectacular afternoon’s work. Saying that, the limp off that final green appeared more pronounced than ever and so still the tongues wagged.

“Yeah it’s a little sore,” admitted Woods for the second day in succession. “But I’ll be good to go tomorrow.” His rivals would expect nothing else. Appleby is no mug, though, and neither for that matter is Robert Karlsson.

On two-under the Swede is the leading Euro in the mission to win the continent its first US Open in 38 years. Yet he is not alone. Westwood’s solid par round kept him very much in the hunt while Miguel Angel Jimenez’s brilliant 66 hauled him into contention. The Spaniard fired the round of the tournament so far and so proved that his victory in the BMW PGA Championship four weeks ago was anything but fluky.

On one-under, the evergreen 44-year-old is on the same mark as Westwood and one clear of Donald. Ernie Els and Geoff Ogilvy are also on level par and that pair of former champions could well be Woods’ biggest threats.

Alas, there will be no Ian Poulter or Colin Montgomerie joining the Tiger hunt. The former pulled out with an injured wrist with three holes remaining, although his pride had also taken a bashing due to two double bogeys and a treble bogey. At 14-over he was on his way home whatever and left himself that bit longer to get to the airport. A US Open official said no reason for the withdrawal was given, while his playing partner Donald was just as mystified. "I've no idea why [Poulter pulled out]," he said. "He just said he was off and that was it. He said 'goodbye and good luck' and walked in."

Montgomerie was not quite as gracious, hurriedly leaving the scene of his latest devastation following a 77 to go next to a 79. The 44-year-old (soon to be 45) is in the worst run of his career and the feeling that he is on an inexorable decline will only intensify after this setback. Surely now it is time for Donald and the rest of the British golden generation to take up the Scot's mantle.

It will not be carried by Justin Rose; not this weekend anyway. The world No 6 was supposedly Europe's best chance of filling the void that stretches back to Tony Jacklin's win at Hazeltine in 1970, but he returned to the wretched form that blighted his start to this season with a nine-over total that sent him back to Florida. He was overshadowed by the achievement of two less heralded countrymen in Oliver Wilson and Robert Dinwiddie, on one-over and two-over respectively.

With Padraig Harrington back in contention on three-over thanks to a 67, the only bogeyless round of the first two days, and Sergio Garcia also far from out of it on four-over, it was a stirring day all round for Europe. Tiger took all the plaudits, however. The magician on one leg.

Second round scores in the 108th US Open at Torrey Pines (par-71, US unless stated, * denotes amateur)

139 Stuart Appleby (Australia) 69 70

140 Rocco Mediate 69 71

Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 70 70

Tiger Woods 72 68

141 D.J. Trahan 72 69

Davis Love III 72 69

Lee Westwood (Britain) 70 71

Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 75 66

142 Luke Donald (Britain) 71 71

Robert Allenby (Australia) 70 72

Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 69 73

Ernie Els (South Africa) 70 72

Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 71 71

143 John Rollins 75 68

Oliver Wilson (Britain) 72 71

144 Robert Dinwiddie (Britain) 73 71

Scott Verplank 72 72

Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 73 71

Woody Austin 72 72

Rod Pampling (Australia) 74 70

Andres Romero (Argentina) 71 73

145 Kevin Streelman 68 77

Bart Bryant 75 70

Stewart Cink 72 73

Retief Goosen (South Africa) 76 69

Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 78 67

Martin Kaymer (Germany) 75 70

Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 73 72

John Merrick 73 72

Jim Furyk 74 71

Tim Clark (South Africa) 73 72

D.A. Points 74 71

Patrick Sheehan 71 74

Brett Quigley 73 72

146 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 76 70

Hunter Mahan 72 74

Derek Fathauer * 73 73

Dustin Johnson 74 72

Matt Kuchar 73 73

Adam Scott (Australia) 73 73

Phil Mickelson 71 75

147 Jonathan Mills (Canada) 72 75

Mike Weir (Canada) 73 74

Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 74 73

Justin Leonard 75 72

Michael Thompson * 74 73

Joe Ogilvie 71 76

Ben Crane 75 72

148 Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 75 73

Stephen Ames (Canada) 74 74

David Toms 76 72

John Mallinger 73 75

Ross McGowan (Britain) 76 72

Ian Leggatt (Canada) 72 76

Andrew Svoboda 77 71

Brandt Jobe 73 75

Justin Hicks 68 80

Pat Perez 75 73

Nick Watney 73 75

Soren Hansen (Denmark) 78 80

Daniel Chopra (Sweden) 73 75

Eric Axley 69 79

Rich Beem 74 74

Todd Hamilton 74 74

149 Jarrod Lyle (Australia) 75 74

Chad Campbell 77 72

Vijay Singh (Fiji) 71 78

Paul Casey (Britain) 79 70

Jeff Quinney 79 70

Alastair Forsyth (Britain) 76 73

Andrew Dresser 76 73

Brandt Snedeker 76 73

Steve Stricker 73 76

Heath Slocum 75 74

Rickie Fowler * 70 79

Chris Kirk 75 74

Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 77 72

Boo Weekley 73 76

Anthony Kim 74 75

Ryuji Imada (Japan) 74 75

150 Jon Turcott 77 73

Scott Sterling 80 70

Zach Johnson 76 74

Toru Taniguchi (Japan) 74 76

J.B. Holmes 75 75

Robert Garrigus 77 73v

Kyle Stanley * 72 78

Casey Wittenberg 72 78

Hunter Haas 80 70

Thomas Levet (France) 74 76

Mathew Goggin (Australia) 77 73

151 Rob Rashell 81 70

Richard Sterne (South Africa) 76 75

Ben Curtis 75 76

Justin Rose (Britain) 79 72

Mark O'Meara 75 76

John Ellis 77 74

Ross Fisher (Britain) 73 78

Steve Marino 73 78

Peter Tomasulo 76 75

David Hearn (Canada) 76 75

Scott Piercy 78 73

K.J. Choi (South Korea) 74 77

152 Nick Taylor * (Canada) 77 75

Jonathan Byrd 75 77

Michael Letzig 77 75

153 Michael Allen 78 75

Charles Howell III 75 78

Kevin Tway * 75 78

Jason Bohn 76 77

Fredrik Jacobson (Swdeen) 74 79

Lee Janzen 75 78

Shingo Katayama (Japan) 77 76

154 D.J. Brigman 79 75

Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 78 76

Bubba Watson 77 77

155 Charlie Beljan 76 79

Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 79 76

Nick Dougherty (Britain) 78 77

Jason Gore 79 76

Dean Wilson 76 79

156 Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 79 77

Kevin Silva 80 76

Robert Gaus 80 76

Craig Barlow 80 76

Brad Bryant 77 79

Craig Parry (Australia) 75 81

Johan Edfors (Sweden) 79 77

157 Jerry Kelly 75 82

Jordan Cox * 80 77

159 Phillip Archer (Britain) 78 81

Jay Choi (South Korea) 79 80

Jeff Wilson * 78 81

Steve Flesch 78 81

161 Chris Stroud 84 77

Philippe Gasnier (Brazil) 86 75

Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 78 83

162 Artemio Murakami (Philippines) 79 83

Bobby Collins 84 78

Garrett Chaussard 80 82

Brian Kortan 78 84

163 Jimmy Henderson 81 82

Fernando Figueroa (El Salvador) 78 85

165 Gary Wolstenholme (Britain) 83 82

167 Mike Gilmore 86 81