Tiger Woods birdied his final two holes to avoid an early exit from the Honda Classic on Friday.
Tiger Woods at PGA National on Friday
The former World No 1 shot a second round 2-under 68 and to join his playing partner Lee Westwood, the World No 2, at 1-under 139 and ease into the weekend, but like Westewood he is now seven shots off the pace on a course where the two have been finding birdies hard to get and were both are going to need a lot of work to get back into the race..
Neither Woods, nor Westwood (69), the world number two, could take advantage of the benign early conditions at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida which enabled PGA Tour journeyman Tom Gilllis to move into the early club-house lead with a 6-under 64 that matched the course record, and paved the way for the new course record 61 set by US compatriot Brian Harman.
Like Westwood, Woods, playing in the event for the first time as a professional, flirted with the cut but finished strongly within two life-saving birdies.
The cut at that stage was projected to fall at one-over 141.
"It was a little bit of a fight today, probably the worst I have hit the ball in months but I managed to score," said Woods, whose mother and son were in attendance.
The 14-time major winner, who double-bogeyed the fifth, produced putts when he really needed them the most, draining a six-footer on the eighth and a 12-footer on the ninth, his final hole, to put himself safely inside the cut line.
Gillis, 43, who described himself as the "prototypical journeyman," had two birdies in his first nine holes before closing with four on the back nine.
Britain's Rory McIlroy, who can grab the world number one slot from Luke Donald with a win this week, was among the later starters on Friday. So was fellow Brit contender Justin Rose.
The Open champion Darren Clarke was among the more notable players who will miss the cut after a five-over-par 75 second round left him with an eight-over total of 148.
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