US Open: Wily Westwood determined to try and outrun the Tiger

TIGER WOODS may still prove to be too much to overcome, but at least Lee Westwood and Luke Donald are in a position to make a run at him.

Woods vaulted into contention at the US Open yesterday and is one stroke off the lead after a stirring performance on his final nine holes at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California.

The world No.1 carded five birdies coming in, firing a five-under 30 on his final nine. At two-under 140, Woods is one shot behind Stuart Appleby with Westwood and Donald in close pursuit.

Westwood signed for an even-par 71 and is tied for fifth at one-under 141 while Donald also shot 71, his second even-par round of the tournament and is at 142 and tied for ninth.

Playing along with Appleby, Westwood managed three birdies and three bogeys yesterday. He was two-under after a birdie on the tenth but dropped to even-par after a bogey at the 15th. He closed his round with a birdie at the last, as did Appleby, and Westwood credited his pairing with the Australian as an aid in his solid round.

"Absolutely, it is always easier when you can feed off each other," Westwood said. "I get along really well with Stuart and Jerry Kelly so we have been very relaxed out there."

Having finished no better than 33rd in his last four starts in the US Open, Westwood is in great position to improve upon his recent record in the event, as well as win his first major championship.

But he is careful not to get too far ahead of himself with 36-holes to play on a course that has shown the ability to take shots away as quickly if not more so than it is to yield birdies.

"Well there is a long way to go," Westwood said. "We're only half way through but I am only two shots off the lead and I have a better chance now that I had last year and in the last few years."

Donald did his share of grinding yesterday. He made the turn at two-under after birdies at numbers three and seven but his game left him for stretches on the back nine. He had three bogeys coming in with just one birdie, but limited the damage to remain in the hunt.

"I certainly didn't play as well as I did the front side," Donald said. "I played a little bit looser on the back side and missed a few drives to the right. Sometimes you are going to get those patches where you're not quite in control of the ball and you have to grind out and make some good pars. And I did that pretty well on the back nine."

As for the weekend, Donald expects that players will continue to find a tough set-up, but a fair one as well. I don't think they will make it too much tougher with the pins," he said. "I think that if they want to make it tougher, they will firm up the greens and make them a bit faster. That will make it very tricky."

US OPEN SECOND ROUND SCORES
Leading second round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 71): 139: Stuart Appleby (Aus) 69 70. 140: Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 70, Tiger Woods 72 68, Rocco Mediate 69 71. 141: Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 75 66, Davis Love III 72 69, Lee Westwood (Eng) 70 71, DJ Trahan 72 69. 142: Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 72, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 73, Luke Donald (Eng) 71 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 71. 143: John Rollins 75 68, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 72 71. 144: Rodney Pampling (Aus) 74 70, Andres Romero (Arg) 71 73, Robert Dinwiddie (Eng) 73 71, Woody Austin 72 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 73 71, Scott Verplank 72 72. 145: Patrick Sheehan 71 74, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 72, John Merrick 73 72, Bart Bryant 75 70, Stewart Cink 72 73, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 75 70, Kevin Streelman 68 77, D.A. Points 74 71, Brett Quigley 73 72, Jim Furyk 74 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 76 69, Tim Clark (Rsa) 73 72, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 78 67. 146: Phil Mickelson 71 75, Dustin Johnson 74 72, Hunter Mahan 72 74, Derek Fathauer 73 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 76 70, Matt Kuchar 73 73. 147: Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 74 73, Ben Crane 75 72, Michael Thompson 74 73, Justin Leonard 75 72, Joe Ogilvie 71 76, Mike Weir (Can) 73 74, Jon Mills (Can) 72 75. 148: Nick Watney 73 75, Justin Hicks 68 80, Soren Hansen (Den) 78 70, David Toms 76 72, Todd Hamilton 74 74, Andrew Svoboda 77 71, John Mallinger 73 75, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 75, Brandt Jobe 73 75, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 74, Pat Perez 75 73, Eric Axley 69 79, Ian Leggatt (Can) 72 76, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 73, Rich Beem 74 74, Ross McGowan (Eng) 76 72. 149: Chris Kirk 75 74, Jeff Quinney 79 70, Andrew Dresser 76 73, Heath Slocum 75 74, Chad Campbell 77 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 78, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 74 75, Boo Weekley 73 76, Alastair Forsyth (Sco) 76 73, Rickie Fowler 70 79, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 77 72, Steve Stricker 73 76, Paul Casey (Eng) 79 70, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 75 74, Anthony Kim 74 75, Brandt Snedeker 76 73.

Failed to make cut: 150: Kyle Stanley 72 78, Robert Garrigus 77 73, Zach Johnson 76 74, Casey Wittenberg 72 78, Jon Turcott 77 73, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 74 76, J.B. Holmes 75 75, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 77 73, Scott Sterling 80 70, Hunter Haas 80 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 74 76. 151: Peter Tomasulo 76 75, Ross Fisher (Eng) 73 78, David Hearn (Can) 76 75, Scott Piercy 78 73, Ben Curtis 75 76, Rob Rashell 81 70, Steve Marino 73 78, Justin Rose (Eng) 79 72, Mark O'Meara 75 76, KJ Choi (Kor) 74 77, John Ellis 77 74, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 76 75. 152: Michael Letzig 77 75, Jonathan Byrd 75 77, Nick Taylor (Can) 77 75. 153: Michael Allen 78 75, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 74 79, Lee Janzen 75 78, Kevin Tway 75 78, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 77 76, Jason Bohn 76 77, Charles Howell III 75 78. 154: DJ Brigman 79 75, Bubba Watson 77 77, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 78 76. 155: Dean Wilson 76 79, Travis Bertoni 82 73, Joey Lamielle 76 79, Nick Dougherty (Eng) 78 77, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 79 76, Jason Gore 79 76, Charlie Beljan 76 79. 156: Brad Bryant 77 79, Craig Barlow 80 76, Kevin Silva 80 76, Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 79 77, Craig Parry (Aus) 75 81, Bob Gaus 80 76, Johan Edfors (Swe) 79 77. 157: Jerry Kelly 75 82, Sean English 75 82, Jordan Cox 80 77. 159: Steve Flesch 78 81, Jeff Wilson 78 81, Phillip Archer (Eng) 78 81, Jay Choi (Kor) 79 80. 160: Jeffrey Bors 81 79. 161: Philippe Gasnier (Bra) 86 75, Bobby Collins 83 78, Chris Stroud 84 77, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 78 83, Yohann Benson (Can) 83 78. 162: Garrett Chaussard 80 82, Artemio-hiromasa Murakami (Phi) 79 83, Brian Kortan 78 84. 163: Fernando Figueroa (Esa) 78 85, Jimmy Henderson 81 82. 164: Niclas Fasth (Swe) 78 86. 165: Gary Wolstenholme (Eng) 83 82. 167: Mike Gilmore 86 81, Chris Devlin (NIrl) 84 83, Michael Quagliano 86 81, Brian Bergstol 86 8.