Even by the eventful standards of Tiger Woods, what we saw on Friday in the evening gloaming at the 83rd Masters was positively stunning.
The most inopportune of weather delays, even an unwitting assault by a marshall – the 14-time major champion took it all in his imperious stride and stuck three birdies on his card to take his place on a crowded halfway leaderboard at Augusta National.
At the end of another fascinating round at the season’s first major, there were still five players ahead of Woods, and all of them proven Grand Slam winners as the quintet all ended up on the same seven under par mark.
Even by the standards of Tiger Woods, what we saw on Friday at the Masters was stunning
Woods is now just one shot behind and with momentum after he carded a thrilling 68
But Woods is now just one shot behind and with momentum after he carded a thrilling 68 to cast an ominous shadow.
The formidable group ahead is led by Open Champion Frankie Molinari and reigning US Open and PGA Champion Brooks Koepka. Alongside them are former PGA Champion Jason Day, his fellow Australian and 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott and South African Louis Oosthuizen, winner of the 2010 Open and runner-up in the Masters seven years ago.
Woods had to call upon his considerable reserves of character and experience. The 43 year old was on the charge after holing from fully 40ft at the 9th and registering the only birdie all day at the 11th, when the weather siren sounded for what proved a 30 minute delay.
Woods had to call upon his considerable reserves of character and experience on Friday
Woods had struck his tee shot to the 12th to just 8ft and the crowd had gone wild. But the life had been sucked from the scene when he returned and he missed the putt. Neither did he birdie the par five 13th.
Then came the 14th, where he played a miraculous approach from the trees to 20ft, only for a marshall, in trying to keep the crowd back, to slide in the sodden underfoot conditions and crash into Woods.
Tiger limped away and was clearly grimacing, shaking his ankle to try to ease the pain. Woods composed himself on the walk to the green and holed the putt. Just as good was the birdie at the 15th, where he holed from 20ft. By now, the crowd had returned and the roar was deafening as Woods unleashed a proper uppercut salute.
Woods endured a brief scare on Friday when a security guard accidentally tripped him up
The security guard tripped him up after trying to get in between Woods and the patrons
Tiger actually had a chance to be tied for the lead but missed eminently holeable putts on the final two greens. Still, he had to be happy with his day’s work. He’s right where he loves to be, and bang in contention to win his fifth Masters this weekend but what would be his first since 2005.
Others in contention include world No 2 Dustin Johnson on six under and Englishman Ian
