Tiger Tears Into Hoylake

Tiger Woods is back, and with a bang. A month after missing his first cut in 38 majors as a professional at the US Open following the death of his father, Woods shot a seven under-par 65 to take a three-shot lead on the second day of the 135th Open Championship.

Woods relishes being a front-runner, and while many of the big guns - Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh - are only in the embryonic stages of their second rounds, they are already grasping in the breeze.

In truth, it wasn't the glorious target-golf that Woods is famous for. It didn't need to be. Instead he dissected the Royal Liverpool course with the patience of a surgeon. Usually it was an iron off the tee, an approach to 20 or 30 feet, and then a quick prayer to the putter. In no time at all, Woods - helped by a 50-foot Hail Mary putt on the eighth and an incredible 4-iron that landed in the hole from 220 yards - seemed to accelerate from -4 after dropping a shot at the third to -12 at the finish.

"I got it going today," admitted Woods, who missed only two fairways and three greens in his round. "Back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth got me rolling after bogeying the third. Then I made a few bombs.

"The eagle on 14 helped a lot - usually it's just a case of getting a four and getting out of there. I couldn't see the flag, and was just trying to get the ball on the green, but I hit it flush and it went in. I also made a big putt on eight, but that was a fluke, I was just trying to get it down in two."

Asked about his prospects for winning his third Open, Woods was cautious. "Everyone certainly has an opportunity to shoot low numbers," he insisted, straight-faced.

True. But so far only Woods, and Chris Di Marco who also shot a 65 to finish the day on -9, have done so.