Tiger Woods poised for weekend push

Tiger Woods was ominously placed to launch a weekend attack on the British Open title after a steady three-under-par 68 left him two shots off the lead after his second round Friday.

Without ever looking particularly threatening, the world number one collected two early birdies and added another at the 17th to move on to the shoulders of playing partner Shigeki Maruyama and Ernie Els, who were in the clubhouse on six-under.

Playing in a constant drizzle, Woods missed four of the first dozen fairways and though his approach shots hit the greens with monotonous regularity, they were rarely close enough to the pins to offer decent birdie opportunities.

Nevertheless, he was quite happy with his performance.

"I didn't make many putts but I felt good on the putts again," he said. "I hit the putts well, they just didn't go in -- and the pins are just tough to get at."

Woods said he was looking forward to the weekend.

"It's going to be a lot of fun," he said. "It's a big challenge but I'm looking forward to it."

Seeking the third leg of an unprecedented calendar year grand slam, Woods set the pattern for his conservative day by taking a four-iron on the first tee, but pushed his ball into the semi-rough.

He left his second shot short but a superbly-judged putt left him with a simple tap-in for par.

He also failed to find the second fairway off the tee but out of thicker rough reached the green and two-putted for a four.

Woods made no mistake with his third tee shot of the day, again a two iron, and from the center of the fairway he flew a wedge to within four feet and duly collected his first birdie.

After another tap-in par the short fourth, Woods carved his drive 15 yards wide of the fifth fairway but found a good lie in trampled grass.

He then produced a wonderful 230-yard recovery just short of the green and two putts secured his second birdie.

Regulation two-putt pars followed at the next three holes before another missed opportunity at the relatively easy par-five ninth.

His eagle putt from off the green slid four feet past the hole and he missed the return to card a disappointing par.

He may have had that blip on his mind on the 10th tee as he pulled his drive into the rough, this time the deep stuff, and could only hack it out sideways. However, he saved par with a curving 15ft putt to keep his card bogey-free for the day.

The next three holes followed the earlier pattern of safe irons to the heart of the green and two-putt pars.

A poor approach on the 14th left him fuming and facing another long putt from off the green, which he left four-feet short, tapping in for par.

Birdie putts lipped out on both the 15th and 16th as he looked to be accelerating down the straight but looked to have stumbled again on the par-five 17th -- the easiest hole on the course.

His second shot found rough short of the green and his chip rolled across it.

However, this time his putt from off the green curved into the center of the hole to earn Woods his third birdie of the round.

Another par on the last sealed an unspectacular but very useful 68 that left Woods in the place he loves to be at the halfway stage of a major championship.

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