Tiger Woods is halfway to his 82nd PGA Tour victory, which would tie the all-time record set by Sam Snead.
The 43-year-old Woods carded a second straight 6-under-par 64 to take a two-stroke lead over Gary Woodland after two rounds of the Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club www.accordiagolf.com in Chiba, Japan.
The second round was played after being completely washed out the day before after nearly 10 inches of rain flooded the course.
No fans were allowed on the saturated course, but a few hundred watched from over the fence at several vantage points around the property, where the first official PGA Tour even in Japan is being played.
The 10th hole was shortened from 376 yards to 140 because of flooding, but still played as a par-4, leading to a number of eagles.
“I made a couple putts today and I went to put my hand up and I’m like, ‘Don’t put your hand up, there’s no one clapping,’ so just move on about your business and just go ahead and keep trying to plug my way up the board, and I was able to do that,” said the 10th-ranked Woods, who is played his first tournament since a fifth left knee surgery in August.
“I’m surprised that I was able to score as well as I have. Usually that takes a little bit of time. But this golf course is a little bit on the softer side. I’ve been able to strike my irons pretty well this week so far and that’s been nice.
“I left a lot of my approach shots below the hole and I was able to be pretty aggressive, and the greens are a little bit slower than they were yesterday. I had a good feel on the putting green, which was nice. Hit a lot of putts from below the hole and making sure that I put a lot of right hand into it and released it and it felt good all day.”
Woods made his only bogey on the second hole but collected five of his seven birdies on the back nine, including on the last two holes to pull away from Woodland and record a 36-hole score of 12-under 128.
Woodland, the reigning U.S. Open champion, birdied the last three holes of his first nine and shot 66, while Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA champion, carded a 63 that was low score of the day and is four shots back in a tie for third with home favorite Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who had a 67.
Corey Conners of Canada carded a bogey-free 64 and is one more down in a tie for fifth with Daniel Berger, who finished at 66, while eight-ranked Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State totaled 66 and is six behind in a tie for seventh with Matthew Wolff, who had a flawless 65.
Collin Morikawa of La Canada Flintridge and Cal recorded a 64 and is seven strokes back in a tie for ninth with J.T. Poston (65), Billy Horschel (67), Ryan Palmer (68), Charles Howell III (65), Danny Lee of New Zealand (65), Satoshi Kodaira of Japan (66) and Sungjae Im of South Korea (64).
Second-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland shot 65 and is tied for 21st, while fourth-ranked Justin Thomas, winner of the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in South Korea last week, is tied for 29th after a 69, and reigning Open champion Shane Lowry of Ireland also had a 69 and is tied for 37th.
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