Tiger Woods: What He Needs to Do to Remain in Contention at the Masters

After struggling through the first 27 holes of the Masters, Tiger Woods finally found his stride. Although he started bogey-birdie-bogey, he soon righted the round after posting a second bogey at the seventh.

From there, Woods had seven birdies in 11 holes to finish the day at -7 for the tournament. He is in third place behind leader Rory McIlroy at -10 and Jason Day at.-8. He is tied with K.J. Choi who he will be paired with on Saturday.

In every other year, Woods' performance today would mean look out, Tiger's on the move. This time around, the picture isn't as clear. Is this the one good round out of four or has he finally mastered the new swing?

Woods did look and sound very pleased with himself after firing a 66 in the second round.

"I was trying to get to under par at the turn, that was kind of the goal, and then pieced together a good back nine, made a couple more and got a little bit hot," Woods said.

He had no idea this kind of round was coming. But his swing, he said, felt better than it has in a long time.

"I played myself back in the tournament," he added, admitting that he was more dialed in than he had been all year.

Woods looked and walked like the Tiger of old the last 11 holes. He got more out of his putting, as well, as though birdies had been building up just waiting to jump into the hole.

"I'm three back, and we have got a long way to go," Woods said. "Any time you shoot 66 in a major, it's always going to be good. I'm very pleased about that."

The threats to Woods' continued success at the Masters start with his own swing. If he can conquer that, even if he can conquer it at 80 percent, if he can repeat half of what he did on Friday, he has a very good chance. But he will have to continue to go under par. He cannot afford a day like the one Phil Mickelson had, one of even par.

Realistically, Woods has more experience than all players in the top 10 on the leaderboard except for Fred Couples, Lee Westwood and Geoff Ogilvy.

What he will need to do on Saturday is hope that he wakes up with the same swing he had on Friday. If that is the case, then a three or four under could easily launch him into the lead, assuming the leaders start to show some nerves.

The pressure on Jason Day and Rory McIlroy will begin to mount as the day progresses. With the last tee times that start near 3 p.m., they will have to find something to do with themselves until after lunch. That can be stressful for those who have not had the experience of holding the 36-hole lead in a major.

"I've closed the gap after yesterday's round, and hopefully tomorrow I can piece together another good round," Woods added. "The whole idea was to peak for this, this event. We try to peak four times a year, and it was nice to go through the learning curve and some of the changes that Sean and I had to make in the game. It was good and positive and here we are."

Saturday, Woods will play with K.J. Choi, who he played all four rounds with in the 2010 Masters.

Woods will see an interesting assortment of clubs in Choi's bag that he displayed at Bay Hill. There were three hybrids replacing long irons, making it look a little more like Annika Sorenstam's bag than that of a PGA Tour player. Choi indicated he made the change to his bag composition to be able to hit higher, softer shots on Augusta National's traditionally firm greens. His strategy worked.

According to Woods, Choi is also an excellent putter.

"Never, ever seen a putting display like we saw last year," Woods recalled. "Best putting display for a 72-hole event I've ever seen in my life."

Quote of the Day: Fred Couples "You know, it's a playground for Phil. We played a practice round and we were paired the one year he won. This is a playground and he has a great imagination, so when he gets in these places, he gets very excited to have these difficult shots. Whereas for me, I get excited when those difficult shots are over and I've kept it somewhere out of a creek or somewhere else...I was playing with Steve Stricker, and he goes, 'man, you just know every spot to hit it.' I really don't know every spot to hit it, but I know where you don't want to hit it."