Tiger Woods dominated the Blue Monster again to take the outright lead after the second round of the World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship in Florida.
The world’s best golfers continued to tear apart the usually tough TPC Blue Monster layout on Friday with Woods taking control with a seven-under 65 pushing him to 13-under for the tournament.
The 14-time major champion holds a two-shot lead over fellow major winner Graeme McDowell (67) who sits second alone at 11-under while Americans Steve Stricker (67) and Phil Mickelson (67) share third a stroke further back.
John Senden was the best of the Australians after his second consecutive 69 left him at six-under in a tie for 10th.
“It wasn’t too bad today,” Senden, who carded five birdies and two bogeys, said.
“I have been playing a little up and down in a few areas which has stalled my momentum on the course just a little but I drove the ball much better today and starting to feel better about myself again.”
Woods opened his second round with three regulation pars before stepping on the gas with seven birdies in his next 10 holes to grab the tournament by the neck.
He gained shots on four and five with precision tight approaches, nailed a nine-foot putt on seven and a 16-footer on eight to continue the run and then added further birdie putts from eight, 12 and 16 feet on 10, 11 and 13.
The world No.2 gave a shot back with the first bogey of his round on the 14th when he left his approach out of the rough short of the green and couldn’t get up and down but grabbed it back with birdie from eight feet on 16.
His 17 birdies in the opening two rounds is a personal best from his impressive career and puts him in the box seat for an unprecedented 17th WGC title and seventh Cadillac Championship.
“I played better today. Not initially as the first couple of holes were not very good at all and the first good shot I hit was at four but once I hit that I felt pretty good about it,” Woods said.
He expected officials to allow the course to play much tougher, particularly as it’s due for a redesign the minute the tournament is completed.
“It’s a tough track. If the wind blows with the greens this firm they’ll dry out and it will become very difficult.
“They don’t really care come Monday. If they lose this golf course who really cares as they’re going to blow it up on Monday anyway so I think they are really going to push us and test us and I think it will be fun.”
Jason Day bounced back from a poor opening round with an impressive 66 to jump up to four-under in a tie for 27th, the same round score for New Zealand’s Mike Hendry saw him join Senden at six-under in a tie for 10th.
Adam Scott (70) made a small climb to two-under while Geoff Ogilvy (74) dropped back to one-under.
Marcus Fraser (+1) has work to do on the weekend to earn much-needed world ranking points in his quest for a Masters start.
