Friday 15 March 2019 20:09, UK
Tiger Woods believes he still has a realistic chance of winning a third Players Championship title despite his challenge taking a big hit at the 17th in the second round.
Woods, who started on the back-nine, looked in good touch with all departments of his game as he cruised to three under for the round after seven holes, but he then found water twice at the notorious par-three and ran up a quadruple-bogey seven.
The 43-year-old admitted afterwards he was "pretty ticked off" to suddenly plummet back towards the cut line, although he was delighted with his response on the outward half as he clawed two shots back with birdies at the second and seventh to salvage a 71 - three under for the tournament.
"I was determined to get it all back and get it back to five, and I thought that would have been a hell of a fight," said a frustrated Woods afterwards. "I ended up getting back to three, so it was a good fight to get to that point, but as of right now I'm six back, which is definitely doable on this golf course especially with the weather coming in.
"I just need to go out there and put it together this weekend, because right now literally anybody who makes the cut has got a chance to win this tournament.
"I'm very happy with the way I've been grinding around this golf course. I've missed a few opportunities to get up-and-down for birdie, but overall I think I've putted pretty solidly and other than 17 today, I really haven't done a whole lot wrong.
"I could be very easily up near that lead, there's no way I would be leading, but I would be close enough to that lead, given the weekend and the forecast."
Woods tugged a wedge long and left and into the lake with his first attempt to find the 17th green, and he then flew the target from the drop zone before finally finding dry land and two-putting for a seven.
"The second wedge shot, I hit it too flat. But the first one I was a bit surprised it went that far," he said. "I took something off that wedge and it flew a lot further than I thought. The other guys took a little read off of that.
"Both shots, I was just trying to hit the ball into the slope and just walk away with a 20 or 25 footer and move on about my business. As I said, the second one I hit too flat and too hot. But the first one from the regular tee was a good shot, it just flew a little bit too far."
And, asked if he considered hitting his third from the main tee box rather than the drop-zone, he replied: "I did, but I figured I can handle an 80 yard shot and obviously I can't."
