Woods opened his first tournament since missing the cut at the British Open with a 71 after what he said was probably his worst putting day.
When he was eight shots behind first-round leader Steve Lowery, Woods said he couldn’t make up ground in one day at Warwick Hills.
It took him two, after he roared back into contention with a 9-under 63 Friday.
He moved into a tie for the lead with Letzig at 17 under with a 33-foot birdie putt at No. 17. Letzig hit a poor shot out of a greenside bunker at No. 18, barely clearing it and leaving him with a tricky lie.
“I don’t care,’’ Letzig said when asked if it would be tough to forget what happened on the last hole. “I’m one shot out of the lead.’’
Based on history, that’s probably an insurmountable deficit behind Woods, who has a 35-1 record on the PGA Tour when he has the outright lead after 54 holes.
Woods and Letzig will be paired today, just as they were at the Memorial in June, when Woods rallied from a four-shot deficit to win and Letzig’s 75 dropped him to a tie for 14th.
“I won’t be so scared, I’ll know what to expect,’’ Letzig insisted. “I’m playing good, that’s the bottom line.’’
US Senior Open - Fred Funk took the lead with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th en route to a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke edge over Greg Norman (68) and Joey Sindelar (70) at 13-under 203 in Carmel, Ind.
Amateur Tim Jackson, the surprise second-round leader, had two birdies and three bogeys for a 73 that left him three shots back.
Russ Cochran made nine birdies for a course-record 64 and climbed into a tie for sixth place, five shots behind.
Women’s British Open - Catriona Matthew, playing just 10 weeks after giving birth to her second child, bogeyed the third and fourth holes but recovered with three birdies for a 1-under 71 and a three-shot lead at 4-under 212 at Lytham St. Annes, England.
American Christina Kim moved into second place with a 71 -215, while defending champion Jiyai Shin shot a 68 to share third place with Ai Miyazato at even-par 216.
PGA European - Steve Webster took a one-shot lead in the Moravia Silesia Open, shooting a 3-under 69 for an 11-under 205 total at Celadna, Czech Republic.
Second-round co-leader Graeme Storm (70) shared second with Ignacio Garrido (69).
Ouimet Memorial - Matt Parziale of Thorny Lea posted a 3-over 75 for an even-par 212 total and held off Frank Vana Jr. (71) of Marlborough to win by one stroke at Woodland GC.
