• The Barclays, Round Two

Tiger tames McIlroy in personal battle

ESPN staff
August 24, 2012
Tiger Woods found himself in some tricky positions on day two but still managed to shoot a competitive score © Getty Images
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Tiger Woods continued to get the better of Rory McIlroy in their personal duel, opening up a five-shot advantage over the Ulsterman to move within three shots of co-leaders Nick Watney and Sergio Garcia at The Barclays.

Woods and McIlroy, paired together for the opening two rounds of the first of the FedEx Cup play-off events, had contrasting rounds on Friday, with the former moving into contention after a two-under 69 and the former tumbling down the standings following an error-strewn 73.

Fourteen-time major winner Woods got off to a terrible start, two bogeys immediately putting him on the back foot. However, he quickly composed himself and rallied with three birdies in five holes to head for the turn one-under through nine.

A period of consolidation followed, the American doing well not to drop a shot as he rattled off four pars in a row from the 10th. He turned a modest score into a useful one when picking up another shot before the close on five-under for the week.

US PGA winner McIlroy was unable to build on his encouraging first-round 69, a string of errors sending him spiralling down the leaderboard and out of contention. There were moments to cheer but five bogeys across 18 holes leaves him stranded on level-par.

Watney is on eight-under after a 69, which included an eagle-three at the par-five fourth, and the American has Garcia for company after the Spaniard continued his good form with a 68.

Vijay Singh (67) is giving chase on seven-under, along with Bob Estes (66), while Ryder Cup hopeful Padraig Harrington has work to do if he is to give European captain Jose Maria Olazabal a selection headache after a forgettable 75 saw him fall to three-under.

Harrington is relying on Olazabal to select him as one of his two wildcard picks on Monday, but the three-time major winner will not have boosted his chances after his second-day collapse.

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