Tiger bites with putter as he roars to super 65
TIGER WOODS fell in love with his new putter yesterday as he fired a white-hot 65 in the Quicken Loans National.
The former world No.1 struggled with his TaylorMade Ardmore mallet with an opening 70 that didn’t feature a birdie until the 14th hole.
However, in round two the blade caught fire in Maryland and he picked up two shots in his first three holes as he blasted back into contention.
Woods made a 16-footer for his third birdie on 15 (he started at 10) but gave the stroke back with a three-putt bogey on 17.
He chipped in for another birdie on the 18th to turn in two-under 33.
Woods made up more ground on the front nine with a tap-in two-putt birdie on the par-five 2nd and drained a 26-footer for birdie on three.
He picked up another shot from close range for a birdie on the fifth to finish on five-under 65 and four behind clubhouse leader Beau Hossler.
The American followed his opening 66 with a 65 and leads by four shots from Taiwan’s CT Pan.
Woods said: “I hit the line I wanted and I hadn’t done that in a while.
“Yesterday I hit a lot of good putts. They just didn’t go in (even though I) started them on my line with the right pace.
“Today I did that and a lot of them fell. It’s a good feeling for me, just go ahead and trust it’s going to swing.
“I don’t like blocking putts. I like feeling that toe move and cover that ball and it felt good today.”
Woods, 42, signalled he would not attack the course recklessly over the weekend, not that he ever did in his prime either.
“You’ve got to be patient on this course. There’s not a lot of low scores out there,” said the 79-times PGA Tour winner, playing his final tournament before next month’s Open Championship at Carnoustie.