66 keeps Woods in touch

BY BERNIE McGUIRE this place. It was a bit of a grind today. I fought hard to shoot the score I shot and really felt I putted well.”

McIlroy was happy with his bogey-free 65 and said: “We couldn’t have got it easier this morning – no wind, soft, you had to hit poor shots to get it off line or to miss greens.

“Hopefully it firms up a bit for the rest of the week but it was a day where you needed to take advantage of conditions and I felt I did that pretty well.

“I’m starting to drive the ball well and there are a few tee shots out here.

“If you can carry it over 300 yards it’s a big advantage.”

With one eye on next week’s US PGA Championship, McIlroy added: “I felt I brought some of the stuff from the range onto the course and I just have to work on it as the week goes on.”

Starting from the 10th, Woods picked up shots on the 11th and par-five 16th before ending the back nine in style, hacking his second shot out of the rough to the front of the green and holing a 50-foot birdie putt.

A 30-foot putt brought another birdie on the seventh and he then had a brilliant recovery from the rough, slicing his approach around a tree.

The birdie putt pulled up short and Woods paid for some wayward driving when he was unable to scramble par on his final hole after finding a bunker.