"I hit the ball really well and there was a nice little stretch there at 9, 10, 11 where I hit some really good shots," Woods said. "And I just felt that, you know, all day I was in control of my shots, and I was controlling my trajectory."
"He putted the ball beautifully today," said Barry Williams, who caddied for Bob Tway, one of Woods's playing partners Thursday and Friday. "The only shot that he missed was the tee shot on two. He pulled it into the rough and had to hit a low recovery under the trees that just chased up there and went way to the back of the green. The pin was in the front, and he had like 65 feet coming back over a mound, and he hit a putt with just the best speed you've ever seen. He'd tell you he missed the tee shot on seven, he hit it a little more left than he wanted and it took a bad kick into the rough."
Woods hit nine of 14 fairways (compared to 10 in the first round) and 13 greens (up from 10 Thursday).
"He's very good at plodding along, plotting his way around the course," said Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA champion, who played with Woods on Thursday and Friday and missed the cut by a stroke. "The one good thing about this golf course for Tiger is he doesn't have to hit driver very often. He can hit 4- or 5-iron, and [expletive], he isn't going to miss the fairway with a 4- or a 5-iron."
But one of the hardest things in golf is to follow a very low round with another low round, and most of the players and caddies were eager to see how Verplank, Ogilvy and the others would respond to the challenge of catching Woods this weekend.
"Nothing's over," Beem said. "Scott Verplank is a hell of a player, Geoff Ogilvy is a hell of a player. Tiger's certainly playing very good golf right now, but if he has a bad day with the putter ..."
"Scotty V. is not going to back down," said Tom Pernice, Jr., who missed the cut by two strokes. "It'll be a lot closer than people think."
"I don't think it's over," said John Wood, caddie for Hunter Mahan, who made the cut at four over. "Scott Verplank is tough as nails, and Ogilvy is a major champion. If Tiger can shoot 63, then these other people can, too. It can be done."
"It ain't never over," said Boo Weekley, who followed his opening 76 with a 69 Friday to make the cut on the number at five over. "I ain't heard no fat lady singin'. I'm about 75% sure it's over, though, if you wanna put some money on it."
