Whew, what a day on this friday of the 2011 Masters Tournament! Birdies and bogies galore! Even the famous Augusta roars by the patrons are starting to return. 1st Round leader Rory McIlroy did what he intended to do, and kept his lead with a very solid 3 under 69 that has him sitting at 10 under par, 2 shots clear of second place. But, standing there in second is 23 year-old Aussie Jason Day, who shot an extremely impressive round of 64, which is the low round of the tournament so far. These two guys will be paired together again for the third straight day, and we will see how they will handle the pressure that comes with the final pairing of a major championship. But plain and simple, the real story is not about them, but about the man behind them: Tiger Woods. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Tiger Woods is in third place and 3 shots off the lead. This is the Tiger Woods that has been "struggling" this year, has been "close" with his golf game, and is now the world's number 7 ranked golfer. He only came into the inward 9 at 2 under par, which was 8 shots off the lead, but he produced a very memorable back 9. He showed everyone that he still has some magic left, capping off an amazing 31 with a birdie on 18 and a ton of momentum heading into the weekend. The fact that he is now legitimately in contention heading into the final two rounds has created a lot of buzz, and will definitely generate a lot more viewers. Keep in mind that the players that are in front of him have little experience of how to handle a tournament of this level, whilst Woods has shown time after time he can handle the pressures. But hey, as great of a story this is, it could go south. Although Tiger showed the swagger of old, nobody is fully confident if he can pull this off as he used to. He may go nowhere and finish out of contention. He may win. We don't know for sure, but we do know one thing: Tiger Woods is finally lurking, and it's enough to keep everyone interested and on the edge of their seat for tomorrow.
Highlights of Tiger's surge up the leaderboard:
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