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Woods seizes lead at CA championship in bogey-free round

Tiger Woods tees off on the ninth hole during the second round of the CA Championship golf tournament on Friday in Doral, Florida. PHOTO: AP

World No. 1 Tiger Woods fired a bogey-free six-under par 66 here on Friday to seize a two-stroke lead after 36 holes at the CA Championship.

Woods stood on seven-under par 137 after the second round of the US$8 million event at Doral's Blue Course, two strokes ahead of Australian Rod Pampling over a layout better known as the "Blue Monster."

"I basically kept it clean all day, no dropped shots, and under these conditions -- very proud of that," he said.

Woods has won the US PGA event at Doral the past two years and captured the World Golf American Express event last year in England, the event that moved to Doral this year in a major revamp of the US tournament schedule.

Reigning British Open and PGA Championship title holder Woods will seek his third major in a row and the 13th of his career in two weeks at the Masters, the first major championship of the year, at famed Augusta National Golf Club.

Woods opened with a pair of birdies, then began the back nine with three birdies in a row and cemented his perch atop the leaderboard with another at the penultimate hole.

Woods was most proud of his birdie at the 17th, where he started with an awful drive.

Woods was clearly irked by the wayward shot, backing up Geoff Ogilvy's observation -- meant as a compliment -- that Woods is "the angriest guy on the golf course."

Woods said that while he wasn't prone to the kind of tantrums once indulged in by tennis bad boy John McEnroe, a little emotion could be beneficial on the course.

"I just think if you understand yourself, you can utilize energy and to me getting angry a lot of times will help me get into a deeper sense of concentration where I can be more focused on the next shot," he said.

Woods was certainly focused on Friday, defying the difficult conditions that saw just 10 rounds in the 60s.

"Wind conditions are a lot more difficult this year," Woods said."We have new greens. A lot of guys don't know what's going on out here with the grain yet."

Pampling managed to avoid some of those problems, jump starting his round of 69 with an eagle at the par-4 sixth, where he used a 7-iron to hole out from 51m.

"I had not made a putt on the front nine, so it took away the problems of trying to make a putt," Pampling joked. "Whenever you have a 2 out there, it's definitely a boost to your confidence."

Pampling also birdied the 10th and 11th holes but had two bogeys and a birdie in his final four holes en route to a 139 total.

"You just like to see the way he gets around the golf course, how he plays those courses," Pampling said of his many practice rounds with Woods. "He's pretty open with his information. And you have some fun out there."

Stenson carded a 73 to join a group of seven players at 140.
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