Tiger Woods made three birdies against two bogeys early Saturday morning to complete a second-round 66 at the PGA Championship. That moved Woods within six shots of leader Gary Woodland through 36 holes.
Woods was on fire to begin Round 2 on Friday. He went three under over the first seven holes before storms halted play for the day. Some wondered whether the interruption would halt Woods’s charge, and he tried to quiet those doubts right away Saturday morning.
At 7 a.m. CT, Woods made his first swing of what will be a long day at Bellerive. Woods laid up on the par-5 8th hole, then stuck his third shot just a few feet from the pin. He rolled that in to open with a birdie and move to four under for the tournament.
A brief setback came at the 10th hole, where Woods was unable to convert a short par putt and made bogey. But he got that one back immediately with another beautiful approach shot and two-footer for birdie at 11 to get back to four under.
Woods hit his first wayward tee shot of the day at 12 when his fairway wood found the right rough. He safely reached the putting surface with his second shot but was left a 101-foot birdie putt. After a good lag, Woods missed his five-footer for par to drop another shot. It was his first three-putt of the tournament.
Woods pulled seven-iron at the par-3 13th and hit a high cut that landed within 10 feet of the cup, then caught a slope and funneled away toward the back of the green. He two-putted from there to save par.
After three more pars, Woods arrived at 17, the final par-5 on the course. He drove it into the fairway and then muscled a 3-wood onto the green some 270 yards away. He missed the ensuing eagle putt and tapped in for a stress-free birdie to once again reach four under par.
A closing par left Woods with a solid 66. Woods will have just a few hours off before he must return to the course to begin his third round.
