BETHESDA, Maryland, (Reuters) – Tiger Woods played  the role of inhospitable host by soaring to the top of the  leaderboard after the second round of the AT&T National yesterday.

The world number one, who is hosting the $6 million event at  Congressional Country Club, fired a four-under-par 66 to finish  on 10-under 130, one stroke ahead of Australian Rod Pampling  (64).

“I didn’t drive the ball as well as I did yesterday or hit  my irons as crisp,” said Woods, who returned a 64 in Thursday’s  opening round. “Either I hit it pretty close to the hole, within 10 feet,  or I was missing greens,” he told reporters. “It was nice to actually get a score out of it. I didn’t  shoot myself in the foot.” First-round leader and holder Anthony Kim followed his  course-record 62 on Thursday with a topsy-turvy 70 to slide back  into third place, two strokes off the pace.
“I hated the way I hit the ball today,” the American said  after carding three birdies and three bogeys.
“It was OK for about six or seven holes but the swing got  loose and I couldn’t find it out there.”

DOUBLE WINNER
The 39-year-old Pampling, a double winner on the PGA Tour  who finished third here a year ago, charged into contention with  seven birdies and a lone bogey under partly cloudy skies and  unseasonably cool weather in suburban Washington.

“The greens were really nice out there so, once you got a  line on your putt, they were pretty much guaranteed going in as  long as you hit it there,” said Pampling.

MORE IN Sports


Reader Comments »

The Comments section is intended to provide a forum for reasoned and reasonable debate on the newspaper's content and is an extension of the newspaper and what it has become well known for over its history: accuracy, balance and fairness.
  • We reserve the right to edit/delete comments which contain attacks on other users, slander, coarse language and profanity, and gratuitous and incendiary references to race and ethnicity.
  • We moderate ALL comments, so your comment will not be published until it has been reviewed by a moderator.
  • Our Comments are powered by the Disqus service. You may comment as a Guest by entering your comment and selecting "Post as". Optionally, you may sign-in using your Facebook, Yahoo or Twitter Accounts.

    Disqus' Privacy Policy can be read here. Please read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.