After back-nine rally, Woods knows he can still win

Tiger Woods birdied two of his final four holes Friday to salvage a 2-over 74 that put him at 3 over after 36 holes. He left the course in a jovial mood, knowing as well as anyone that he's in a great position to claim his fifth Green Jacket.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.com Correspondent

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- There shouldn't be a question in your mind because, honestly, there isn't a question in his.

The answer is yes. He can win this.

It doesn't matter if he's a half-dozen back -- give or take a wind gust -- going into the weekend. Not on the course. Not with the temperature about to chill out. Not with the wind preparing to blow.

And not with a leaderboard filled with up-and-comers from both sides of the pond.

"They are not going anywhere, not in these conditions," Woods said. "They are not going to go low here. I played with Paul (Casey) today and he played just one of the great rounds of golf you'll ever see. He shot 68. I mean, you're not going to go very far here."

Except maybe to the green jacket ceremony.

Tiger Woods threw away a good round Thursday afternoon and salvaged a bad one Friday morning. He followed an ugly, chili-running-tongue-scalding-hot 73 with a relaxed get-it-done 74 to settle in at 3-over-par 137 at Augusta National and give himself a chance to inch closer to the leaders or, well, a fifth jacket.

He birdied two his last four holes and, after signing his card for a second-round 74 and chatting with David Feherty, he eased up to the gallery rope and held court. He wasn't happy, but he was relaxed and realistic. He laughed. He cracked off a few good lines. He was relaxed, in control and on the way to the range to fix what ails his swing.

"I felt like I turned basically a 90 into a 74 today which is nice," he said. ". . . kept myself right there in the ballgame."

And as we know from the past, that's often all the best player on the planet needs.

A bounce here, a putt there. Anything to offset the crazy wind gust that caught his tee shot at the 12th and sent it glancing off the bank and to a watery grave. Or his approach at 13 which, again, found the water. Or his bogey at 11.

What was the problem at the start of the day and what were you thinking at 12 and 13 and how do you bring it all back, someone asked just as he stepped up.

"Anything else?," Woods countered, drawing a laugh.

Really.

"I had a two-way miss going pretty much all day," he said. "I could hit it left or right. Not a good place to have a two-way miss on."

It shouldn't come as any sort of surprise. Amen Corner isn't his spot. For his career here, he's 7 over on the 11th, 7 over on the 12th and 27 under on 13.

And Friday? On 12 the wind caught it. And 13? "I just hit a bad shot. I was trying to hold it up against the wind and got a seriously hook lie, and the wind is coming off the right and I tried to hold it and I shoved it."

But he managed to save par, nonetheless.

"The whole idea is never make a double around this place, and you don't make doubles, you don't make three-putts here, usually you're going to be in contention to win the tournament," he said. "That was a nice putt to make."

Indeed. But the 13th hole was just a pain, period. He was in the middle of his swing when birds flew over him and he pulled out of the swing. A checked swing, if you will. And hardly the first one of his career. But the first on a cool day at Augusta.

"It felt like I broke my back, my wrist, my neck, any legs," he said. "I don't know how those baseball players do it, that check swing, I don't know how they do it, but I tried to check it and did somehow, and I felt like the shaft was going to snap because the head passed forward, I was trying to stop it so hard."

Tiger hit just five fairways in his second-highest round here as a pro. But since when does that matter? The tougher it gets, the more he loves it. And, well, he wasn't worried in the least by his cranky swing. Which should tell you even more.

Someone asked if he would be aggressive this weekend. He just laughed.

"Here? On this golf course? Not in these conditions. No," he said. "You just go ahead and plod along and try to put the ball in the right spot if you can; and if you can't, somehow just don't have any wrecks out there."

So far, so good. Bumps along this road are to be expected. Especially with the course finally running hard and fast. And, yes, it's drier than it was in 1999 when Jose Maria Olazabal won with an 8-under 280.

"Well, this is probably as dry as it was in '99," Tiger said, cocking his head. "Only difference is about 500 yards and put in about a billion trees and now we have rough out there.

"It's a totally different golf course than we played in '99, but it's just as dry. The greens are starting to get that little sheen to them and putts are starting to roll out."

It's getting hard. And fast. And playing right into his hands.

He knows it. So do we.