Tiger Woods walked off the 18th green thinking he'd had a pretty good round. It looked even better after Stuart Appleby ran into trouble on the last two holes.

After notching an eagle and seven birdies, Appleby bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18 today, leaving him tied with Woods at 10-under 134 after the second round of the Motorola Western Open. Both shot 6-under 66s today.

Mike Brisky, the first-round leader, shot a 69 and is one shot back at 9-under 135. Vijay Singh, the 1998 runner-up, is among four at 7-under 137 in the $2.5 million tournament on the 7,073-yard Dubsdread course at the Cog Hill Golf and Country Club.

"I feel bad for Stuart, but I feel pretty good for myself," said Woods, who won the Western Open in 1997. "To finish like that is always tough, especially with how well he was playing."

After bogeying the par-4 No. 4, Appleby seemed to get in a groove. He had birdies on Nos. 5, 7 and 9, including a tough, 15-foot uphill putt on the seventh. He made a 12-foot putt on the 10th to go 8-under and catch Woods, who was playing a hole in front of him.

Appleby went two better on the next hole. He put his tee shot on the par-5 11th straight down the left side of the fairway, about 220 feet from the green. He cleared a clump of trees with a 5-iron, managed to get around a dogleg and landed 10 feet from the pin.

He made the putt for the eagle, putting him at 10-under.

"Pretty good golf,'' Appleby said. "Good putting. I was making my chances when they were there. Pretty much no trouble golf.''

At least not until the last two holes, when he missed par putts of 3 and 8 feet.

"Definitely not. No chance,'' Appleby deadpanned when someone asked if he could put the last two holes behind him Saturday.

Appleby has learned all too well in the last year that a round of golf is just a game. His wife, Renay, was killed last July 23 in an auto accident in London. Appleby made an emotional return at the PGA Championship, and won the Shell Houston Open in May for his first victory since her death.

"It's great to see him playing good,'' Woods said. "After the devastating loss of his wife, it's good to see him back. He looks happy. He's carrying himself better.''

Woods finished the day with six birdies, including an impressive one on the par-5 15th. With 208 feet to the pin, he hit a 4-iron and landed in a big clump of grass on the downslope of a hill.

He took a full backswing, and the ball landed perfectly on the green, bounced twice and then rolled to two feet away from the pin.

"It was a tough shot, but it wasn't as tough as it looked because the greens were soft,'' Woods said.

In fact, he thought his second shot on the par-3 No. 2 was even tougher. His tee shot landed in a bunker behind the hole, just an inch away from a slope of grass. There was barely any room to get under the ball, and he stood there looking at it for several minutes, trying to figure out what to do.

Finally, he took a baseball-like swing and put the ball about four feet from the pin.

"That was pretty sweet,'' he said.

Appleby said there's no added pressure playing with Woods on Saturday.

"It's just some guy who's sitting right there,'' he said. "I'll go out and do my best tomorrow and Sunday. That's all I can ask of myself.''

Brisky, who has missed six cuts in 14 previous tournaments this year, ran into big trouble on No. 15. After putting his second shot on an uphill slope, his next shot landed in a bunker with a tree right in front of him. He tried to go through the trees, but landed in another bunker instead.

He finally got out of that mess and got himself on the green, only to three-putt from 10 feet for a double-bogey 7. But Brisky, who started off the back nine, birdied the next three holes.

"My first goal is to make the cut,'' he said. "So we're past that now. Now we've got a new goal ahead."

AP