Tiger Woods struggles but still shoots par

Tiger Woods may have lost the ability to deliver a knockout blow to the rest of a major field but the World No. 1 can still scrap with the best of them.

No part of the American's game is in the kind of shape it was when he was at the peak of his powers in 2000 and 2001.

But the mental resilience that was an equally important element in Woods's winning make-up is still there on the evidence of his performance on Friday.

After slugging it out with the Royal Troon links for a shade under five hours, Woods declared himself happy to sign for a level par 71 that left him 1-under at the half-way stage of the tournament.

"You've got to stay patient out there and that's what we did," he said. "It was hard to get the ball that close today but with the wind blowing like this none of the guys are going to run away with it.

"I'm right in there with a chance and that is exactly where I want to be ahead of the weekend."

Although the breeze had stiffened slightly from the first day, conditions on the Ayrshire coast remained favorable to low scoring.

Woods however never looked like ripping up the course the way he might have done two or three years ago, although that was something he was quick to put down to a combination of the wind and testing pin positions.

"The course is not playing easy. The guys are not going to go out there and shoot 63's or 64's.

"I could maybe have done a couple of shots better on the front nine but overall I played very well today."

Woods's two birdies both came at par-5s, the fourth and the sixth. But those gains were cancelled out by bogeys at the seventh, where he struck his approach pitch through the green and failed to get up and down, and the ninth, where he three-putted from the front edge.

Woods' frustration at dropping a second shot was evident as he thumped his putter into the turf then stomped off to the 10th without waiting for playing partner Lee Westwood to putt out.

His mood scarcely improved when yet another wayward drive landed him in deep rough close to the railway line that runs alongside the 10th.

From there he could only find another patch of rough to the right of the green but a superbly judged chip from the long grass saved his par.

It was a similar story at the next hole, where Woods had to get up and down from the left of the green to save par.

The remainder of the gruelling back nine was navigated without any further dramas but Woods will have been frustrated at not making more of the opportunities he generated for himself over the closing holes.

A 370-yard drive at the 15th left him with just a short iron approach to the longest par-4 on the course but Woods was unable to get his pitch close.

At the par-5 16th, the one hole on the back nine Woods would expect to birdie, a thinned 4-iron left him with a difficult chip over a bunker and he was unable to get the ball close enough to get himself back under par for the day.

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