Tiger lurks as O'Hair surges three ahead

MIAMI (Reuters) - World number one Tiger Woods stayed in the hunt for a record sixth victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, carding a one-under-par 69 at Bay Hill Club in Friday's second round.

Playing only his third event of the year after being sidelined by a knee injury for eight months, Woods mixed three birdies with two bogeys to finish five shots behind pacesetter Sean O'Hair.

American O'Hair, who tied for third at Bay Hill last year after shooting a career-low 63 in the third round, charged three strokes ahead of the pack with a sparkling six-birdie 65.

Although O'Hair made his only bogey of the day after driving into rough on his final hole, the par-four ninth, he took control with an eight-under total of 132.

First-round leader Jason Gore of the U.S. returned a 70 to drop back into second place, a stroke in front of Australian Robert Allenby (65) and Ryuji Imada (66).

Scoring was difficult on a blustery Bay Hill layout running fast and firm in bright sunshine and Woods was happy after climbing into fifth at three under.

"I played decent," the 33-year-old American told reporters. "I didn't hit the ball as well as I'd like but I kind of grinded my way along and had two chip-ins, which was nice.

"Overall today was a grind-it-out day. The golf course is getting fast and the greens are really getting fast."

Woods, who won last year's title by a shot, was frustrated with his ball flight after faring well at Doral in last week's WGC-CA Championship.

FLIGHT CONTROL

"My shapes are fine but I'd like to be able to control my trajectory a little bit better especially when the wind is blowing like this," the 14-times major winner said. "On this course you can make bogeys in a heartbeat."

Three off the overnight lead, Woods rolled in a 20-foot putt to birdie his opening hole, the par-four 10th.

Although he picked up another shot at the 12th, he gave that back with a three-putt bogey at the 16th to reach the turn in one-under 34.

He also bogeyed the par-four first before collecting his third birdie of the round at the eighth where he chipped in from just off the green.

O'Hair, two off the pace at the start of the day, surged into the lead with four birdies in his first eight holes.

Out in four-under 31, the 26-year-old American picked up further shots at the sixth and eighth, where he knocked in a four-footer, before stumbling at the last.

"I hit the ball really well," said O'Hair, a double winner on the PGA Tour. "The driver really set my round up nicely and I gave myself a lot of opportunities for birdie. Overall I did everything fairly well today."

British Open champion Padraig Harrington, playing with Woods for the second day in a row, carded a 68 to vault into a tie for sixth at two under, six shots behind O'Hair.

The cut fell at five-over 145 with 2007 U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina and Americans Jim Furyk and Davis Love III among those missing out.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Tony Jimenez and Nick Mulvenney. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)