TIGER, TIGER BURNING BRIGHT AT ONE UNDER PAR THRO 36 HOLES

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By OLIVER BROWN
With all the patience required of an Open champion, Tiger Woods displayed formidable resilience at a fast-running, sun-drenched Muirfield today to finish with a second-round 71 that left him at one under and sustained his challenge for a fourth Claret Jug.
The miscues of the first day, when Woods twice sprayed drives far to the left off the first tee, were long forgotten as the world No 1 showed prodigious accuracy without having to use the driver. 
Just one shot behind early pacesetters Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson as he returned to the clubhouse, with overnight leader Zach Johnson still to tee off, Tiger looked ominously poised.

This was a performance of great composure from Woods, who seldom strayed from the centre of the fairway as he prioritised accuracy on Muirfield's arid layout, burnt dry by the constant sunshine and flanked on all sides by deep fescue rough.

His arm-aloft gesture on the final green, as he sank a 12-foot putt for birdie, showed how significant the putt could yet prove in the narrative of this Open Championship.

Woods had begun his charge by draining a slippery 12-footer for birdie at the third, but made a misjudgment at the next when a short par putt at the par-three fourth slid by. He made up the shot immediately with a birdie at the long fifth, but began to wobble with bogeys at the eighth and 11th.

Only sheer force of will, allied to his dependable putting, took him through the next treacherous sequence of six holes, much the toughest at Muirfield, without dropping a stroke.

It was all the perfect set-up for that 3 at the last, a punishingly long par-four but one that Woods mastered impressively with a beautiful approach from 218 yards. The sweeping putter-to-the-sky gesture as the ball dived into the hole spoke volumes. Tiger is on the prowl.