Tiger Woods needed only three holes to take the suspense out of making his 120th consecutive cut on Friday at The Players Championship.
He'll need all 36 holes over the final two days to catch up to Kevin Sutherland and Jerry Kelly.
Sutherland holed an 80-foot bunker shot on his way to a 3-under 69 for his first 36-hole lead in eight years. Kelly joined him with a 66, a mixture of short birdie putts and a scrappy short game on the TPC at Sawgrass.
They were at 9-under 135, facing a tough test on the weekend and a leaderboard littered with big names.
Ernie Els (69) and Adam Scott (72) were two shots back. Vijay Singh (68) and Padraig Harrington (70) were right behind them. Phil Mickelson (69) made par despite driving into the water on No. 18 and was only four shots off the lead.
The best news for Woods is that his 69 was good enough for a tee time on Saturday.
Starting the day at 3 over and in 108th place, Woods played with purpose. He hit a 5-iron shot from 208 yards that dropped and stopped 10 feet from the hole for eagle on the par-5 11th (his second hole), then followed that with a wedge into 10 feet for birdie.
Woods went up 64 spots into a tie for 44th, but wasn't entirely pleased. He never gained another shot on the lead for the rest of the round, and wound up at even-par 144.
"I was trying to shoot 66," Woods said. "I thought 3 under would put me right where I needed to be. Now, I need to post a good, solid number to put myself to where I have a chance Sunday afternoon."
The cut was at 146, so Woods had two shots to spare.
He certainly got his share of breaks along the way, as did Kelly, Scott and other late starters.
A week of sunshine finally gave way to clouds and rain right when Woods took the long walk over to the 17th tee to face the island green. He hit land this time, and negotiated 60 feet, three breaks and one big ridge in two putts.
Sawgrass was no pushover, but the rain helped soften the yellow sheen on greens that had been getting firm.
"When we got to No. 10 and I saw how crusty that green was, I thought we were in for a tough day," Kelly said.
Woods picked up his only birdie on his second nine when a chip from deep rough rammed into the flagstick and spun around the hole; otherwise, it would have rolled as much as 15 feet by.
Kelly, who has played bogey-free for two days, made his own breaks.
He made five birdies inside 5 feet -- birdies on both par 3s on the back nine -- and holed a 35-footer on No. 5. Then, it was a matter of hanging on.
Kelly saved par from deep rough just off the sixth green with what he called a "downhill, buried, bump-and-run, up-and-down" -- otherwise known as an outstanding chip that just hopped out of the thick grass and rolled to 4 feet.
"The round-saver," he said.
Sutherland can relate. He drove into rough so deep on No. 14 that he had a hard time even identifying his ball. He wasn't sure he could advance it 15 yards, but it came out hot, through the fairway, into a bunker and behind a tree.
He wound up holing a 12-foot putt for bogey.
"That was huge," he said. "Making that putt was like making a birdie putt as far as momentum goes."
The next hole was even better.
Sutherland hit into a bunker from the left rough, then holed the 80-foot sand shot for an unlikely birdie. He couldn't help but smile and give a high-five to his caddie.
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