Woods eyes top finish in Augusta

Seventh after one round, third at halfway. Tiger Woods is on the prowl again and now few will be surprised if he wins his first tournament in nearly five months.

In Miami five weeks ago Ian Poulter was asked where he thought Woods would finish if he made his comeback at The Masters.

“Top five. Guaranteed,” said the World Match Play champion without a moment’s hesitation.

Poulter, joint overnight leader with Lee Westwood, has no need to change that assessment, but is just hoping that that top five does not become top one.

Woods has been practising consistently to try to make up for lost time. He is also suffering badly from the effect of the pollen at Augusta.

“It’s just killing my eyes,” he stated. “I’ve been sneezing and hacking all week.” It explains his use of sunglasses between shots.

Yet here the world number one looking like the world number one despite his lay-off.

It is impossible to imagine any other player doing what he has been doing so far – especially considering what has been going on in his private life.

Woods knows a two-stroke deficit with 36 holes remaining is nothing.

“This golf course, you can make up shots and you can lose shots – that’s one of the beauties of it. It should be an exciting weekend.”

His second round 70 was two worse than his opening effort, but the set-up was considerably tougher and he added: “I hit the ball better and I putted much better. I’ve put myself right there.

“My practice has been really consistent. I didn’t have the luxury of playing tournaments coming in here, so I had to be more focused on my practice sessions coming into it and take more out of them than most people would.

“It’s very similar to what (Ben) Hogan went through coming off the accident. When you can’t play you have to concentrate on your practice. It feels good. It feels really good. It feels good to be back.”

Phil Mickelson has not been away, but he has been off-form and he has had the worry of his wife and mother’s cancer, so he too is delighted to be in a tie for third – with fellow American Ricky Barnes and Korean KJ Choi as well as Woods - entering the weekend.

He and Woods are not playing together like the final round last year, but they might be tomorrow, of course.

Woods partners Choi for the third day in a row just in front of Westood and Poulter, while Mickelson is with US PGA champion YE Yang again.