Tiger stalking leaderboard

Tiger Woods showed signs of returning to form with a two-under-par 69 that left him four strokes behind leader Briny Baird midway through the rain-plagued Buick Classic in New York.

The world number one got within two strokes of the lead with four birdies over his first nine holes but had three bogeys on the back nine.

“I just didn’t keep it going,” said Woods, who has not won on his last four starts on the PGA Tour after earning titles at three of his first four appearances this season.

Woods had a similar round on Thursday, playing the first 10 holes at the tight Westchester Country Club in five-under before bogeying two midway through the back nine.

He then birdied the 18th and ended the day four shots back.

“I’ve played nine holes well each day,” said Woods, who shares fifth place with Brad Faxon, Shigeki Maruyama of Japan, Jonathan Kaye, JL Lewis and Tom Gillis on six under at 136.

“I just need to keep it going longer than that.”

Rain has fallen in the New York suburb all week, making the course extremely wet and the forecast does not look any better for the weekend.

Baird followed a career-best 63 with a wild 69 that left him at 10 under 132, a stroke better than Retief Goosen.

Skip Kendall is another stroke back, one ahead of veteran Joey Sindelar.

Fred Couples, Steve Flesch, John Rollins and Shaun Micheel are tied for 11th at five-under 137 – five strokes off the pace.

Vijay Singh of Fiji heads a group of eight players at 138.