Woods not done yet

Standing in the rough at the bottom of a steep slope behind the sixth green, Tiger Woods was getting perilously close to missing the cut in his own tournament. He needed a terrific shot just to have a chance for a bogey that would put him nine shots behind the leader.

Sure enough, he hit one.

The ball landed 6 feet from the hole. “Pure luck,” he called it, but it was the turning point of his round. Using his weighted-down putter, he made bogey and went on a roll. He gained shots on his next three holes, a birdie-birdie-birdie finish to a 4-under-par round of 66, matching Mike Weir for the best score of the day.

Woods was 1 under at the halfway point of the AT&T National on Friday at Bethesda, Md., tied for 12th but with a lot of work still to do in his inaugural event as a tournament host. Stuart Appleby and K.J. Choi shared the lead, both having somewhat tamed the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club with rounds of 66 and 67 for a 7-under total of 133.

“I’m back in the tournament,” Woods said. “And hopefully I can shoot another round in the 60s tomorrow and move my way up the board.”

The turnaround from Woods’ miserable 73 on Thursday was stark. He made only two bogeys instead of seven. He needed only 25 putts instead of 34. He didn’t have a single three-putt. He made six putts longer than 8 feet – including a 22-footer at No. 12 – after missing everything from 8 feet and beyond the day before.

His secret? He put some lead tape on his putter, forcing him to put more oomph in his stroke after leaving so many putts short well short of the hole the day before.

“Made it a little bit heavier,” he said.

U.S. Senior Open

If Tom Watson ever figures out this golf course and quits swinging so awkwardly, the rest of these guys might really be in trouble.

Watson shot a 6-under-par 66 in the second round of the U.S. Senior Open at Whistling Straits in Haven, Wis., moving to 8 under for the tournament and taking a three-stroke lead over five players.

Watson made eight birdies, including a string of four straight just before he turned nine holes. But after his round, he said he still doesn’t have much a feel for the course, making him think twice about the way he is swinging.

“They’ve put a couple of tees in different places today, so you go, ‘Wait a minute, where do you hit it here?’ ” Watson said. “And it makes me a little bit unsure of my swing.”

Watson certainly hid those insecurities well – especially during the birdie binge that began on the par-4 14th.

“I made some awkward swings out there, to hit some awkward shots, and got away with them for the most part,” Watson said.

Watson’s closest pursuers at 5 under are Loren Roberts, Des Smyth, Lonnie Nielsen, Ben Crenshaw and Vicente Fernandez.

“Obviously, he still hits it as good as he ever did,” Roberts said. “For him, it’s a matter of making putts and obviously he made some putts. He’s going to be tough to catch.”

Watson, 57, has won five British Opens, two Masters and a U.S. Open – but he has yet to win a U.S. Senior Open in seven previous tries.

Watson has finished second in three of the past five senior opens, losing a duel with Allen Doyle last year despite playing in front of his home-state fans at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kan.

“It would be nice to not finish second again and come back with that beautiful trophy, it sure would,” Watson said.