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Tiger Woods will have to do something special to keep his six-month winning streak alive. Woods, who has won his past five official starts worldwide, has his work cut out after falling seven strokes behind halfway leader Vijay Singh at the Arnold Palmer Invitational yesterday.
"I'll have to play better and make a lot more putts than I have been," Woods admitted after a steady if unspectacular two-under-par 70 second round in ideal conditions at Bay Hill.
"I just never got the speed of these things today. I just kept leaving them short. I wasn't swinging the club very well [either] and when I did put myself in position to make a putt, I didn't make them. I'll do some work... and I'll be all right."
Australian Geoff Ogilvy was not ready to bet the house on Woods, but did not discount the great man either. "You'd want to get nice odds on Tiger winning, but I feel I could still win from one-over, so at two-under he's very much in it," said the 2006 US Open champion.
Singh is not the easiest leader to catch, a wily 45-year-old veteran with 31 US Tour victories and nearly as many in other parts of the world. The defending champion took advantage of ideal conditions, picking up a late eagle to shoot 65 and post a nine-under 131 total.
Swede Carl Pettersson (65) is his closest pursuer, two strokes behind. On a day when the Australian challenge never left the launch pad, only four of the 10 made the cut.
Matt Jones was the best placed of them, seven shots behind in a tie for 20th with Woods. Ogilvy trails by 10 strokes, while John Senden and Steve Elkington made the cut with nothing to spare, 11 shots adrift.
Ogilvy has made a slow start to the year. He missed the cut in his first three tournaments, but found some form last week to tie for 10th.
"I wouldn't tell everyone I'm playing particularly well, but it's not bad either," he said.
"Better than I was doing at the start of the year."