Woods in record form

Tiger Woods served up another treat for Irish golf fans today, equalling a course record he had set only 24 hours earlier.

On a day of superb scoring – there were a few exceptions to that and, disappointingly for the 22,200 crowd, Darren Clarke was among them – Woods had his second successive 65 and doubled his lead in the American Express world championship at Mount Juliet.

A 14 under par halfway total of 130 took the world number one into the weekend two ahead of Jerry Kelly and three in front of two more of his fellow countrymen, Ryder Cup team-mate David Toms and Steve Lowery.

The leading non-American is South African Retief Goosen on 10 under, while two closing birdies by England’s Gary Evans for nine under kept him the leading home player in the race for the million dollar first prize.

But Woods stole the show again. He rated it an even better round than the first and, even if he did spark a debate by saying a win this week was more important to me than at The Belfry, nobody watching was complaining. They were the beneficiaries.

In three Irish Opens on the course in the 1990s 13 under par was the best 72-hole aggregate – by Bernhard Langer. Woods is on course for 28 under, which would break the European tour record.

Do not be surprised if he does it. He would not be.