Tiger makes it through to the weekend

Tiger Woods pulled a magical rabbit out of the hat to make his 129th consecutive halfway cut, birdying three of the last six holes to card a three-under 69 in the U.S. PGA Championship second round on Friday.

The world number one, who had battled to an opening 75, had five birdies in total and two bogeys to finish at level-par 144. The cut for the leading 73 players at Whistling Straits was made at 145.

Woods, bidding to end a run of nine majors without victory, has not missed the 36-hole cut in a tournament since the Canadian Open in 1997, his first full season as a professional.

Since turning pro in late 1996, he has never missed the cut in a major.

However, the 28-year-old American still faces the prospect of losing his number one status in the world rankings. Either South African Ernie Els or Vijay Singh of Fiji can overhaul him with victory on Sunday.

"I was thinking about it (his cut streak) a little bit because I wasn't playing well," Woods told reporters. "If I was playing well it would be no big deal, just try and get myself in contention for the weekend, but I wasn't playing well.

"I had to somehow just grind it out and be patient and hopefully things would come around, and they did. I started hitting the ball better on the back nine."

Eight-times major winner Woods made a fast start on Friday before struggling around the turn.

He reeled off consecutive birdies, hitting his wedge approach at the par-four first to within two feet of the flag and reaching the green in two at the 593-yard second.

"I just got off to the greatest start you could," Woods said. "I just threw away those shots real quick."

Woods gave himself another opportunity at the par-three third but his birdie putt from 15 feet pulled up a foot short.

The world number one then lost momentum, struggling for accuracy off the tee and putting pressure on himself to save par.

He ran up a bogey-six at the fifth 'Snake' hole after finding water off the tee, and dropped another shot at the par-four sixth, where he failed to reach the green with his approach.

Out in level-par 36, Woods did well to salvage par on 10 and 11 before rallying at the par-four 13th where he holed a seven-foot birdie putt to get back to two over.

Another birdie followed at the par-five 16th, where he reached the green in two. He then rolled in a curling 15-footer for birdie at the par-three 17th to make certain of progressing to the third round.

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