Tiger leading at the half-way mark of British Open

Eagle on 14 paves way for a round of 65, puts Woods atop leaderboard at -12

Putting to rest his trouble at Winged Foot, Tiger pounced on the Royal Liverpool course in Hoylake, England. Woods carries a one stroke lead into the weekend where he will be matched with South African Ernie Els who equaled the 65 put up by the leader. 

Coming into the day Woods trailed Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell by one stroke but he quickly overtook the first day leader and began to distance himself from the four other golfers who had matched his opening round 67.

There were some questions as to how Tiger would react after failing to make the cut at the U.S. Open. It was the first time in his professional career that he had failed to make the cut in a major.

If history is any indicator to the answer, Woods will be claiming his third silver claret jug and 11th career major. Woods is 6-0 when leading a major at the half-way point. Adding to the excitement is Tiger’s pursuit to become the first man since Tom Watson to repeat as the British Open champion. Woods claimed the title last year at St. Andrews by five strokes.

The world’s number one golfer is quick to point out "We've got 36 more holes to go. Unless there's some kind of rainstorm coming and it's canceled after two days, we have a long way to go."

For Ernie Els, the prospect of catching Tiger over the weekend is something to enjoy. One stroke behind The Big Easy said "Obviously I've got to keep it up, I'm playing with the world's No. 1 player on the weekend. It should be fun.” He continued “I didn't want to get crazy aggressive, but I needed to keep the foot on the pedal.”

Chris DiMarco rounded out the trio of second round 65’s and enters Saturday in third position with a nine under total of 135. Dimarco’s presence at the British Open comes just two weeks after his mother’s death, "my mom has always been a huge supporter of mine. She followed me around so many times, drove me around as a junior player everywhere.”  For DiMarco the event has allowed him some serenity “I certainly have a great peace about me this week.”

Along with the silver claret jug, the British Open winner will receive $1,261,584 for their four day work.