Tiger Woods, Even With One Good Leg, Is Just One Shot Off the U.S. Open Lead

We're halfway through this U.S. Open thing and Tiger Woods, as has been the case for every tournament he's entered in 2008, is on the front page of the leaderboard. This time, though, the difference is that he's fresh off left knee surgery, and last teed it up at the Masters.

Most of the last five weeks has involved media speculation about the state of Woods' game upon his return. And Thursday's opening round, despite two double bogeys (prior to this week, Eldrick hadn't carded a double bogey all year, and had only five in ten years at Torrey Pines), wasn't all that surprising given the circumstances.

But we're talking about Tiger Woods, and 2-over, even at the U.S. Open, even with one good knee, is somehow a disappointment. Things actually got worse before they got better, though; on Friday, Tiger went out in 38, made the turn at 3-over for the tournament, and looked to tweak his knee while hitting a shot off the cart path.

But something happened between Woods' 9th and 10th holes on Friday because he fired a 30 on the back nine, had birdies on four of his first five holes after the turn, and birdied his 18th to get to 2-under for the tournament.

Heading into the weekend, Woods is tied for second place with Rocco Mediate and Robert Karlsson, and is only one shot off the lead, currently held by Stuart Appleby.

Eldrick was predictably understated during his post-round comments:

"Whether you call it the zone or not, it just feels it's a nice rhythm," the two-time Open winner said. "Been there before.

"I was just trying to get back to even par, to be honest with you. That's all I was trying to do. And I just happened to make a couple more putts. That's about it."

Mission accomplished. And then some. Of course, there's 36 holes to go, and if Tiger's not leading after Saturday's round, his chances of winning the whole thing get a lot slimmer.