Tiger Woods was the early clubhouse leader midway through the second round of the Emirates Australian Open being played at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.
After two years without a win, the 14-time major winner has put himself on track to a repeat of his Australian Masters victory in Melbourne in 2009 when he posted a 5-under 67 on Friday after blazing through his first nine holes with five birdies and overall carding seven birdies as against two bogies.
"I played well today, I could have been lower on what would have been my first nine holes and basically I felt I didn't miss a shot.
"Even though I shot five under today I felt it could have been eight or nine," said Woods, who always looked a lot more like the confident star he used to be before he crashed into some high profile personal problems, a divorce, a long list of left leg injuries and a swing change that has taken time to perfect.
"It feels good (on top of the leaderboard) but it feels good being there by actually playing properly and not like I'm slicing it all over the place.
"I'm hitting the ball well and I've hit so many lips (of holes) these past few days that I felt it (his score) could have been quite a bit lower."
Australian Peter O'Malley finished birdie-birdie for a six-under 66 to be a shot off the lead with top-ranked Australian Jason Day another stroke away on seven-under 137.
Woods believes his 67 on Friday backed up his feeling after his opening bogey-free 68 here on Thursday that he is beginning to find his long overdue return to form and his 58th place on the World Rankings will soon be nothing more than a bad memory..
"I'm basically playing the way I have been playing at home. It's finally come to the golf course in a tournament setting. I've been hitting like this at home, but it just hasn't come out at a tournament," Woods said.
"It's progression. I've been through some changes before and that's what happened. It takes a little bit of time, but once it starts coming the confidence starts building."
Hitting off at the 10th tee, Woods' bogey-free run ended at the par-4 third and his 30th hole of the tournament where he missed a 30-foot putt for par.
But he made up for the loss of a stroke with a 25-foot birdie at the fourth hole.
O'Malley had a spotless round of six birdies and no bogies as he charged up the leaderboard, while World No 7 Day, playing in the same group as Woods, had five birdies and a bogey as the found himself being loudly encouraged by the large home gallery.
"I only missed two fairways, I hit 18 greens and hit two par-fives in two, I probably had 32 putts for six-under so that's pretty good golf," said O'Malley, who plays regularly at The Lakes.
Overnight leader Jarrod Lyle of Australia was among the afternoon groups and had still to tee off.
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