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AUGUSTA, Georgia - Tiger Woods sprayed the ball to all parts of Augusta National during his Masters second round this morning and was involved in an extraordinary incident on the 13th tee.
The world No 1 was forced to abort his downswing, with the club head having travelled just beyond the ball, after being put off by a bird in flight.
"A bird flew right over me and I stopped my swing somehow," Woods told reporters after returning a scruffy two-over 74 for a three-over tally of 147.
"I felt like I broke my back, my neck, my arm. I don't know how baseball players can check their swings."
Woods escaped penalty as he made no attempt to strike the ball. As for the rest of his round, he was pleased to emerge relatively unscathed.
"I had a two-way miss going all day, I hit left or right," said the 31-year-old American.
"I turned a 90 into a 74...which is nice.
"Yesterday I threw away a good round, today I salvaged a bad one. I kept myself right there in the ballgame."
Woods' bid for a fifth green jacket and third successive major win appeared in trouble when he followed his bogey-bogey finish on Thursday with another dropped stroke at the first on Friday.
He also bogeyed the fourth and seventh before replying with a birdie at the eighth.
But Woods dropped back again after pushing his tee shot deep into the trees at the ninth.
A battling Woods kept his championship hopes alive on the back nine, carding three birdies coming home despite finding water at the 12th and 13th.
He escaped with a bogey at the par-three 12th by sinking a nervy 18-foot putt.
Woods' second shot at the next hole again found Rae's Creek before he produced a brilliant up-and-down to save par.
"I had a terrible Amen Corner," said Woods.
"But you just go ahead and plod along and try to put the ball in the right place if you can and just somehow don't have any wrecks out there.
"The whole idea is never make a double (bogey) at this place, you don't make three putts here and you're pretty much in contention to win."
With the demanding conditions at Augusta expected to toughen still further on Saturday and Sunday, Woods knows what he needs to do to challenge for victory.
"We're all going to have to grind, whether you're a rookie or a veteran, you're going to have your hands full this weekend," he said.
- REUTERS
