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"Only played 20 holes," Woods said. "I knew I had to go get it."
He got on track on a par 5, though his birdie was not how he imagined. He drove into the right rough, a nasty lie just short of the bunker. He chopped it down the fairway as far as he could manage and then hit a 7-iron from 207 yards into 5 feet for birdie.
Ultimately, he was happy to finish one shot behind. For the second straight day, Woods wasn't particularly sharp in any area of his game except for posting a score.
"I didn't have it with my swing," Woods said. "Just kind of fighting it around here. You look up at the scores, the guys are just running off. I just wanted to get to double digits (under par) today. I felt like that would have been a good accomplishment the way I was hitting the golf ball, and happy to get a couple of more."
McIlroy's mistakes all seemed to cost him, whether it was a three-putt bogey or bad lies when he missed the green. He was helped by a brilliant approach on the par-5 ninth to just inside 5 feet for eagle.
"I put myself in a great position going into the weekend," McIlroy said. "The round wasn't quite as good as it was yesterday. I didn't hit the ball quite as well. But I still managed to get around in 4-under par. I'm very pleased about that. I just need to try and find a little more consistency. It wasn't that bad out there, but just a couple of missed tee shots and a couple of missed iron shots."
McIlroy and Woods are both going for a PGA Tour-leading fourth win of the year.
Singh would gladly settle for his first.
Bill Haas had the best round Friday at 64, despite a bogey on the 17th hole. There were 32 rounds in the 60s, and only 10 players failed to shoot par or better. That included three U.S. Ryder Cup players -- Matt Kuchar, Webb Simpson and Steve Stricker, who had a 73 despite a hole-in-one with a 6-iron on the sixth hole.
Hunter Mahan, concerned about an "empty feeling" after not being selected for the Ryder Cup, had a 73.
Haas is at No. 28, and helped himself immensely with a 64. Haas won the FedEx Cup last year, saving par out of the water during a playoff, but a strange piece of history is working against him. No FedEx Cup champion has ever made it back to East Lake for the Tour Championship the following year.
Much like Singh, however, Haas a lot of work left. Given the low scoring -- and there's nothing to indicate that will change -- the final two rounds of the BMW Championship would be wide open. Twenty players were within five shots of the lead, a group that includes Graeme McDowell, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.
"Let's be honest," McDowell said. "You've got to keep going low this weekend."
[Associated
Press;
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