Tiger Woods is in a place he hasnt been in 30 months top of the leaderboard on the PGA Tour going into the weekend. With alarming control,Woods putted for birdie on every hole and made short work of the par 5s Friday at Bay Hill for a 7-under 65,giving him a share of the lead with Charlie Wi after two rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A lot of positives today, Woods said. Wi,the 54-hole leader at Pebble Beach this year,rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on his last hole for a 68 to join Woods at 10-under 134. Former US Open champion Graeme McDowell had an eagle-par-birdie finish for a 63,while Jason Dufner extended his solid play on the Florida swing with a 69. They were one shot behind at 135. Woods last had the 36-hole lead in any tour event at the Australian Open in November,and he tied for third. On the PGA Tour,go all the way back to the Tour Championship in September 2009 to find the last time he was top of the leaderboard going into the weekend. I want to win. Yes,absolutely, said Woods,a six-time winner at Bay Hill. Weve got a long way to go. Its not like its over right now. Weve got 36 holes to go. Woods at least is in better shape than he was two weeks ago. His future looked as muddled as ever when Woods was taken off the golf course in a cart at Doral because of soreness and swelling in his left Achilles tendon,the same injury that forced him to miss three months and two majors a year ago. I saw him on television at Doral and didnt look good there, said Ernie Els,who played with Woods at Bay Hill,and played with him when Woods shot 62 on the last day of the Honda Classic. Today he was on,and today was the same as I saw at the Honda very on. Nervous moments WOODS only had a couple of nervous moments. He ran off four straight birdies on the front nine to quickly get into the mix,and then couldnt decide how to play his tee shot on the 10th. It didnt help that earlier in the round,he looked over at adjacent first tee and saw Nick Watney pipe his tee shot out-of-bounds to the right. I got over there and for some reason Im thinking,You know,I probably really shouldnt hit this driver; Ill take something off of it,and just hit a little softy out there. And bailed on it,because I didnt want to hit it right out-of-bounds, Woods said. And I chalked that up to just not listening to my instincts of hitting a 3-iron down there or just chipping a 5-wood or not watching Ruby hit that shot. Woods was lucky. The snap hook bounced off a net fence protecting the houses,and he had just enough room to play to the middle of the 10th green and walk away with par. It was the fifth time Woods had had at least a share of the 36-hole lead at Bay Hill,and he has failed to win only once from that position. Cautious Tiger Woods served up several reminders that the tournament is only halfway over,along with gentle rebukes that it hasnt been that long that hes been in the hunt.He was tied for the 54-hole lead at Abu Dhabi,finishing third behind Robert Rock. Woods played well at the Australian Open until a poor third round. As for winning,he counts that birdie-birdie finish to win the Chevron World Challenge,which counted toward the world ranking even though it featured an 18-man field from the top 50 in the world.
