Honda Classic 2012: Tiger Woods Must Improve His Putting to Climb Leaderboard

If Tiger Woods is to make a charge up the leaderboard at the Honda Classic in Saturday's third round, his putting will have to keep improving through the weekend.

Woods putting was better in Round 2, but there is still room for improvement.

Via ESPN:

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"It was a grind," he said. "I didn't really have it today. But I scored. That's something I can take out of the round. I know I putted a lot better today. Finally got putts to the hole, and that was kind of the goal today, not leave one putt short, and wasn't quite successful at it, but that was certainly what I was trying to do."

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Woods missed way too many birdie putts in Round 2 that put him dangerously close to missing the cut for the weekend.

To be fair, Woods did make two clutch birdie putts on the final two holes to ensure he made the cut, but if he was more consistent throughout the round on the greens, then he wouldn't have been in that position.

Consistency is also something that has to get better for Woods, because it doesn't do him any good to make a few good putts in a row, then two-putt on the next few holes.

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"It's certainly a lot less stressful if you are striping it all day and two-putting and making an occasional birdie here and there," Woods said, "certainly a lot less stressful. But not feeling very good on the shots, how I'm going to manage a score, it puts a little added stress."

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Now that Woods has made the cut, the stress of making the weekend is gone and he should be able to relax and focus on climbing the leaderboard.

The key for Tiger in Round 3 is to strike the ball well from the fairway and hit the green so he has an opportunity to make just one putt for a birdie. Missing the green and forcing himself to hit one putt for par isn't going to help him get back into contention.

Woods' putting did get better on Friday, and if he keeps improving, he will see his position on the leaderboard get higher as the weekend progresses.