Woods makes his move

Tiger Woods shot his lowest score in more than two months to earn a two-stroke lead after the second round at the Wachovia Championship.

In his first start since a disappointing tie for 22nd at The Masters, Woods had eight birdies on his way to a six-under-par 66 on the demanding Hollow Quail course. It was his third-best score of the year and his lowest since a final-round 64 at the Nissan Open in February.

“I hit the ball really well,” said Woods, who posted a nine-under 135 halfway total.

Arron Oberholser (68), Notah Begay (70) and first-round leader Kirk Triplett (73) shared second at seven-under 137. Vijay Singh of Fiji (70) was among a group of four players three shots off the pace.

With Davis Love III and Mike Weir trailing by four and Masters champion Phil Mickelson five back, the five top-ranked players in the field all were in contention going into the weekend.

Even after hitting only four of 14 fairways during the first round, Woods expressed satisfaction with the state of his game. He backed up his comments with a pretty impressive performance in the second round, hitting nine fairways.

“I gave myself some good looks at the putts and I made just about every one of them. That’s a nice combination,” he said.

Woods was on fire from the greens, one-putting 12 times and holing out from off the green once, taking just 22 putts in all. He sank a bunch of long putts, none longer than a 46-foot bomb at the par-three second.

His round included two bogeys, most notably at the par-five 15th, where he pulled his drive into the water and had to take a penalty.

It is too early to pronounce that Woods is back to his best, given his mediocre form at his past three tournaments, but it is worth noting he has won the past 18 times that he has held the halfway lead on the PGA Tour.

“I feel better with the work I have done,” said the world number one, who has been tweaking his swing.

“Although my scores and results don’t show it, everything is improving. It is just a matter of time before it starts coming together.

“We are all fiddling around, trying to get a little bit better. I don’t have to change my swing like I did back in ’97. It’s just fine tuning.”

Woods was lured here after being impressed by the course while watching last year’s inaugural event on television. So far he has no regrets about his decision to play.