Woods puts himself in title contention with six-under par 66 on day two
Dubai: Tiger Woods made up a remarkable six shots on day two of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club to take him to seven under par, shooting up the leaderboard from 26th and right back in contention after day one's disappointing score of one under par 71.
Two days' scores of 71-66 now rekindle hopes of Woods reclaiming the Desert Classic to equal Ernie Els' record hat-trick of wins at the 22-year-old event.
Playing the back nine first, Woods birdied on holes 12, 13 and 18 and then on holes two, four and five.
Speaking to press after his reformed second day performance at the par-72, 7,301-yard Majlis Course, Woods said, "It was steady, I cleared up the round didn't make as many mistakes as I did yesterday and I hit the ball a little better today.
"We didn't have the same issues that we had with wind yesterday so I could make up the birdies early on, the wind picked up a little on the back nine but the ball was flying a little further than yesterday.
"I hit the ball better today. I felt like I had more control over my shots and more control over my trajectory today. We had some clean greens which was nice, and we hit them perfect this morning, so I think all of us made a few more putts."
Important day
Faced with wind conditions predicted to worsen, Woods said, "It was important to up the pulse today and get the number down. It's going to be hard to make up the shots now its going to be a test.
"I feel good, I'm just two shots back we'll see what that is at the end of the day but I've put myself right back in the tournament."
Wood's first round had been marred by the wind and some teething problems in change of technique and lack of practice time.
He told press after the opening round, which saw him fight back from two over par twice to end one under, "I missed every putt. I had three easy looks and three bad putts. They were not bad reads just terrible putts. After that for some reason I settled down and hit pure putts all day. Unfortunately I just didn't give myself enough looks."
Having bogeyed one and four, birdying the sixth, then bogeying the seventh, Woods entered the back nine on day one birdying ten and 11 before double-bogeying 12, birdying 13 and eagling the 18th. Woods added, "I actually struggled with ball flight. My trajectory was not what I wanted on a lot of the shots and consequently I could never get a ball pin high especially with the winds blowing this hard." When Woods said he was only six shots back with all to play for after his poor first-round show some doubted his ability to pull it back and felt he was in tournament to iron out his technique changes. But his day-two score confirms Woods' genuine intent to chase the title.
Second round scores at the Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club
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