Saturday 17 March 2018 09:31, UK
Tiger Woods admitted he had to dig deep to "grind out a score" and keep himself in with a chance of a ninth Arnold Palmer Invitational title at Bay Hill.
Woods struggled for accuracy from the outset on day two as he tugged his opening tee shot into trouble and started his second round with a bogey, and his sharp short game enabled him to scramble pars before he finally hit a green in regulation at the fifth.
The eight-time champion dropped another shot at the ninth after three-putting from over 60 feet, but he lifted his spirits with a sublime up-and-down for his first birdie of the round at the 12th, and he pulled off a further brilliant par save at 15 after being plugged in a greenside bunker.
Woods was a whisker away from holing an eagle putt from the fringe at the long 16th, but he tapped in for birdie and shaved the hole from 15 feet at the last as he settled for a 72 which leaves him seven shots off the lead heading into the weekend.
"Today was a hard fight, it was a grind," said Woods. "It wasn't sharp, but I hung in there and just kept grinding away and chipped away at the golf course. I didn't hit the ball close, I didn't hit the ball well, but I was just hanging in there.
"I just tried to not shoot myself out of the tournament, just keep myself in the tournament. I thought something in the red would be great and I just wasn't quite able to do it, but I came close.
"I was fighting but I didn't hit anything close. I had a couple of wedges in my hand and didn't hit them within 20 feet, so it was a little off today and the only thing that I felt really good with was my putter.
"Even though I blew it off the green on nine, I hit a beautiful second putt and the putter was releasing and flowing, it really felt good. But I just couldn't get to the green fast enough!
"It was just a bad day. I didn't really feel all that comfortable with a lot of my motion today. It wasn't sharp, it wasn't crisp, and I think it was contagious in the whole group. We all mis-hit a lot of golf shots today in our group. But we all hung around and we grinded out a score."
Despite his misfiring performance on Friday, Woods remained confident he could turn his form around over the weekend and put pressure on the leaders, although he predicted the course could play tougher in the predicted warmer weather.
"I'm quite a few back and there's a lot of guys between myself and the lead, and if it gets warm like it's supposed to get on the weekend then we're going to make some birdies, the golf course is going to be very short," he added.
"The only thing that's going to maybe be a deterrent is I don't think they're going to put any water on these things. They're starting to get a little burned out. The fairway on 15 was really quick, Jason (Day) hit a two-iron that went about 325 yards.
"But that's the way this golf course is meant to be played, that's how Arnold always wanted it to be played, he always wanted it hard, fast, and he wanted the greens dead by the time we played on Sunday and I think we're going to have that.
"As long as I can just keep chipping away at it, I can keep working my way up the board. Last week I didn't really know the golf course as well as I would like and so I was a little bit on the more conservative side. This one I know, but I wasn't sharp.
"I haven't made a lot of bogeys in the last week and a half, but I haven't made a lot of birdies either. I haven't hit the ball close enough to make a lot of birdies, so I've got to do a better job of that this weekend in order to run down these guys."
