Tiger Woods takes control

Tiger Woods has bad news for the rest of the PGA Tour -- he's feeling comfortable.

Playing in his backyard, Woods found his putting stroke Friday during a 7-under-par 65 that left him four shots clear of Scott McCarron and two days from his third straight title at the Bay Hill Invitational.

Woods made three birdie putts of at least 15 feet, taking adantage of redesigned greens that are rewarding players who are rolling the ball well. He also two-putted for birdie on a pair of par-5s.

"Now I get on greens where I can hit the ball on the line at the right speed and they are not rolling all over the place," said Woods, the top-ranked player in the world who is winless since August.

Woods has a 36-hole total of 12-under-par 132, 15 shots better than the cut line of 3-over 147. He feels he's finally getting his game together, finishing second to South African Ernie Els two weeks ago at the Genuity Championship.

It's no surprise Woods has played well during the "Southern Swing." The Orlando resident placed in the top three in six of seven Florida starts entering this week.

"New home, adopted home?" Woods explained. "I just feel comfortable here in Florida. That's where I live now and I play on these grasses. I've played well in the wind here and I just feel comfortable here."

McCarron shot a 67 to jump from 11th to second in a marquee field that features seven of the top eight players in the world. He's only concerned with Woods but said winning is not impossible.

"It doesn't matter whether it's Tiger or Ernie Els or whatever," said McCarron, who let a title slip away at the Match Play Championship in his last start. "Four shots is four shots. But there's still 36 holes of golf left, a lot of golf."

McCarron is coming off consecutive runner-up finishes, but no one is hotter than Els, whose world ranking has risen to third after three straight medal-play victories. He is tied for third with Angel Cabrera at 137.

"I'm on a nice stretch," said Els, who carded a 67. "So might as well stretch it out."

Tied for the lead after the first round, John Daly and John Huston shot 71s and fell to fifth at 138. Sergio Garcia of Spain leads a group of 10 players at 139.

That's seven shots behind Woods, who appears to be well on his way to becoming the first player in history to win three straight Bay Hill titles. But he's not content yet.

"Oh, no. I've got to keep plugging along," he said. "This golf course is very difficult now. We've had two days there's been no wind. If the wind ever comes up on this golf course with these greens, it's going to be really difficult."

But it hasn't yet for Woods, who started on the back nine at the Bay Hill Golf Club on Friday and birdied four of his first seven holes. Included in the mix were 20-foot putts at the 10th and 14th holes.

Woods narrowly missed an eagle at the par-5 16th after hooking his second shot from a fairway bunker around a tree and onto the green, 40 feet from the pin.

"It was just a matter of hooking it around," he said. "I felt, Why not? I'm swinging well and go ahead and try it."

Woods settled for a tap-in birdie at 16, made another at the first and began a run of three straight at the fourth as he started pulling away from the field.

"I feel comfortable with the lead, and I would always much rather be in the lead than come from behind, because then you can always make a mistake and still win," he said. "That's just kind of how I always looked at it."

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