Tiger Woods Drops to 17th After Even Par Round 2 in Arnold Palmer Invitational

Tiger Woods faded to the fringe of title contention with an even-par 72 in Friday's second round of the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida.

Woods' mediocre performance dropped him into a tie for 17th place at four under. He's seven strokes behind leaders Henrik Stenson and Bryson DeChambeau.

He'll not only need to chase down that tandem if he wants to secure his 80th career PGA Tour victory this week, but he must also bypass several marquee names on a crowded leaderboard that features Rickie Fowler (-6), Patrick Reed (-6) and Rory McIlroy (-5).

Heat check might be the best phrase to describe Tiger's second round.

The 14-time major champion has whipped golf fans into a frenzy over the past month. After missing the cut at the Genesis Open, he showed signs of progress en route to a 12th-place result in the Honda Classic and then finished second last week at the Valspar Championship.

All of the problems that plagued Woods in recent comeback attempts, from a two-way miss with the driver to issues with his short game, were suddenly fixed.

The 42-year-old superstar referenced the rapid change in how his latest return was being covered during his comments after a four-under 68 in Round 1.

"The narrative has completely flipped from how you guys ask me questions, and I just wanted to remind you guys that it wasn't that long ago that you were asking a different set of questions and that you need to enjoy it," Woods told reporters. "No, I enjoy just playing again after what I've been through. Playing feels good."

His play throughout the second round showed there's still work to do if he wants to win again, especially with The Masters just three weeks away.

It didn't take long to see it might be a tough trip around Bay Hill. His first tee shot landed a country mile left of the fairway to start a poor driving day, which saw him regularly miss the short grass with both his driver and his irons.

He sandwiched seven pars in between bogeys at No. 1 and No. 9. ESPN Stats and Info provided further details about his struggles on the front side:

Woods was better on the back nine with two birdies and no bogeys. But it wasn't enough to salvage a round where he never seemed to find a rhythm and lost ground on the leaders.

The PGA Tour highlighted his first birdie of the day on 12:

All told, every evaluation of Tiger's play is relative. He wasn't anywhere close to peak form Friday, but he continues to look healthy after a competitive six rounds in the last nine days and he's still within striking distance if he can put together a couple great weekend rounds.

If he can reduce the deficit to three or four shots by the end of Saturday's round, he'll put himself firmly in the mix for the second straight week, something which seemed unlikely a month ago.