The Associated Press
WINDERMERE, Fla. — The guy in a red shirt put on quite a show Friday in the Hero World Challenge to get into contention.
That was Patrick Reed — and Tiger Woods watched it all.
Reed, playing alongside Woods at Isleworth, was 8 under through 10 holes and wound up with a 9-under 63 in the second round, which was delayed 90 minutes by heavy rain. Jordan Spieth elected not to finish his round in darkness, mainly because he had a tough chip short of the 18th green and couldn’t see the flag from 30 feet away.
Spieth was at 11 under, two shots ahead of Henrik Stenson, who had a 68.
Reed was another shot back, along with Justin Rose.
He became the third player this year to shoot a 63 while playing with Woods.
“I never played with Tiger before, besides a practice round at the British,” Reed said. “It was good to finally be able to play with him, especially in competition. It was a lot of fun. We had a good time. I felt like we enjoyed ourselves out there, and luckily I played well.”
Woods was better that his opening 77, except for a sour ending because of another flubbed chip.
Woods was making progress toward his goal of getting back to even par for the tournament. He hit a 5-iron out of the rough to 4 feet for eagle on the par-5 13th, followed with a flip wedge into 3 feet for birdie on the 14th, and he hit another wedge to 5 feet for birdie on the 16th.
But after the rain, Woods had mud on his ball in the fairway and could only smile as it sailed left and long of the green. What followed was another bad chip — that’s six already in two rounds — that traveled only about 10 feet. He wound up with a double bogey for a 70. He remained in last place, 14 shots behind Spieth.
“It’s not very good,” Woods said of his short game.
Reed opened with three straight birdies. He rolled in a 40-foot eagle putt on the seventh, and he went out in 29 after making a 15-foot birdie putt at No. 9.
After his 7-foot birdie putt at No. 10, Reed even began “thinking in the 50s,” though that ended quickly. With a sand wedge from the rough, his ball came back off a hill behind the 12th green with so much steam that Reed begged it to “hit the microphone.” That would have been the only thing to keep it from rolling into the water, and it missed. He made bogey.
Rory McIlroy shot a 63 with Woods in the opening round at Dubai this year (Woods shot 68). Spieth played with Woods at Torrey Pines and shot 63 on the North Course (Woods shot a 71).
Woods is playing for the first time since Aug. 9 at the PGA Championship. He took nearly four months off to strengthen his muscle structure, and during the time away, he hired a new swing coach.