Tiger tightens grip

The vagaries of golf are such that few, if any, can ever really hope to attain perfection. All it takes is for a bad bounce to turn a good shot into a poor one; or for a spike mark on a green to deflect a putt off line.

None of those whimsical things happened to Tiger Woods in the American Express World Championship at Mount Juliet yesterday, and it seemed more than ever that he was in control of his destiny as he tightened his grip on the event.

Yet, as he methodically pieced together his second successive bogey-free 65 for a 14-under-par midway total of 130 - to move two shots clear of his chief pursuer - with play that looked pretty darn close to perfection to everyone else, the world's greatest golfer insisted he hadn't hit even one shot that came close to perfection in imposing his will on all others.

"Not even one?" he was asked.

A shake of the head confirmed his view.

"I can play better," he said.

Which is bad news for anyone in pursuit of Woods. The last 14 times that Woods has held a second-round lead, he has walked away as champion. This is a player who, once he has taken a grip on a tournament, doesn't tend to let go.

If that should frighten the man in second, it doesn't. Jerry Kelly, a two-time winner on the US Tour this season, revels in his Irish heritage - "I'm from a Kelly clan in Cork, and my mother's side is McCann, so I'm 100 per cent Irish . . . there is no bad blood in me," he said - and he intends to use those battling qualities heading into the biggest weekend of his career.

"I've no reason to be intimidated," added Kelly. "It's my demeanour anyway. Tiger's got great mental and physical talents, but anybody can be beaten."

Even with Woods claiming the lead, nobody is throwing in the towel just yet. Although he holds a two-shot lead over Kelly, Steve Lowery and David Toms are just a stroke further back and there are 16 players within six shots of the leader.

On a course yielding copious number of birdies - it played even easier yesterday with an average score of 69.65 to Thursday's 70.32 - there is the incentive for players to make a charge at Woods, the only player in the field to play 36 holes of bogey-free golf.

While Kelly, who equalled the course record 65 set by Woods on Thursday, may yet be adopted by the crowd, the two home-grown Irish players in the field experienced more difficult days.

Padraig Harrington, continuing to struggle with his alignment, at least birdied his last two holes for a 70 to be among the 52 players under par - in his case, on five-under par 139 - but Darren Clarke's form dipped even lower, firing a 76 for seven-over par 151 which left him propping up the field.

Gary Evans, continuing to show his good form, came back from incurring bogeys at the 15th and 16th to finish with back-to-back birdies on the last two holes for a 68, which left him on nine-under par 135 and positioned as the leading European player.

The manner in which Woods carved out his second successive 65 would indicate that the tournament is his for the taking, and nobody can doubt his hunger.

Although he hit only seven of 14 fairways, his powers of recovery are such that he can still conjure up magic. This was exemplified on the 17th where he missed the fairway right but cut a two-iron around a large oak tree. The ball finished short of the green, and he then pitched to 12 feet and holed the putt for his seventh birdie of the round.

In many ways, Woods seems to be on cruise control; and much of his robotic play can be attributed to what he considers the relative ease of the course.

"I've always suggested in any tournament, but especially the bigger the tournament, that the harder they should make the course. I think it is more fun when you play tournaments like that. That's why the US Open is one of my favourite tournaments," he said.

That might be a small complaint, but it hasn't deflected him from the main task at hand - which is to win a sixth WGC title.

"The rough is not that penalising here. They're trying all they can to hide the pins, but it is really hard to hide them when the guys are able to be aggressive off the tees . . . and even if we had windier conditions, the guys are still going to shoot good numbers, and that's just because the greens are that good. The greens are the key, they're so perfect," said Woods.

Woods took more advantage of the greens than anyone over the first two rounds. Just like on Thursday, he required only 26 putts yesterday.

"You don't play greens like these very often. I just walked a couple of them (putts) right in because it's not going to bounce off line, there's no spike marks, nothing, out there."

All of which ties in with his pre-championship assessment that it would all come down to what happened on the purest greens to be found in Europe. It just so happens that, so far, he has been hotter with the blade than anyone else.