Woods hits rough patch as Fowler finds form

Newlywed Laird birdied Firestone’s final three holes to add a 67 to his opening 66 and on seven under par found himself only one behind joint-leaders Rickie Fowler, Ryan Moore and Adam Scott.

Woods, though, dropped into the pack on one-under after following up his encouraging first- day 68 with only a 71 in this his first tournament for 12 weeks.

The former world No 1, who missed the US Open and The Open because of knee and Achilles tendon problems, increased his birdie count from three to four.

But the number of errors went up significantly. After bogeying the 467-yard 14th for the second day running – this time it was his fifth hole of the round – he immediately dropped another shot.

Woods did come straight back with two birdies, but as well as making two twos on the front nine he also bogeyed the fourth and then double-bogeyed the 469-yard sixth, going from rough to a greenside bunker and taking four more to get down.

The seven-time winner of the title still had a better day than Open champion Darren Clarke again, however.

Clarke was left propping up the 76-man field on 11-over after improving only by three on his initial 77.

Malton’s Simon Dyson – winner of last Sunday’s Irish Open – had been joint last with the Ulsterman overnight, but restored his confidence with a fine 66.

Laird, winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, had mixed three birdies with three bogeys as he came to the long 16th, but struck an 83-yard pitch to four feet there and closed with putts of seven and 15 feet.

Round of the morning came from 22-year-old Fowler, a 64 containing an eagle two – he sank his 109-yard pitch to the third – eight birdies and four bogeys, including one at his final hole.

Moore had his second successive 66, while Scott, having started with a dazzling 62, had to settle for a 70, also closing with a bogey.

Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, England’s world No 1 and 2, were both three-under early in their rounds, with US Open champion Rory McIlroy one further back as he teed off again.

Ian Poulter’s 69 for level par was a real mixed bag. After four birdies and three bogeys in the first 15 he ran up a seven on the long 16th, but birdied the last two.

That put him one ahead of playing partners Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose, both round in 70, while Paul Casey was down on four over after a 71.

No question what is his least favourite hole so far. After double-bogeying the ninth on day one he had a triple-bogey seven there on his return. Because of the threat of thunderstorms the decision has already been taken to bring forward the third round tee-off times today. The first start time was to be 7am local time (noon BST) with the leaders – in threes rather than twos – out at 9am.

Scott’s fellow countryman Jason Day made it a four-way tie at the top with an opening 12-foot birdie putt, while Donald was only four back when he picked up shots at the first and short seventh.

Westwood was on the same mark after making a curling 15-footer at the fifth, but McIlroy wasted an opening three with a bogey six at the second, rated the easiest hole on the course.

McDowell made four there, but then bogeyed the fourth and fifth to be two over.

Westwood made another two from almost 50 feet at the seventh and when he rolled in a 12-footer three holes later he was six-under, joint seventh and only two back.

Donald had his first bogey of the week on the 10th, though, to go back to three under, one better than McIlroy.

Woods said distance control was the big issue for him.

“The ball should be flying about the same, but it’s not,” he said.

“I’m swinging better, so I’ve got to get used to new numbers.

“I know my stats don’t show it, but just the way I’m driving the golf ball, the start lines are so much tighter and the shape of the shots are so much tighter. I’m so close to putting the ball on a string, so it’s coming.”

Westwood undid a lot of his good work by missing the green at the 13th and making a mess of his chip, then going in two bunkers and horse-shoeing out for a second successive bogey.

He returned to four-under, one in front of Donald and McIlroy.