GREENSBORO, N.C. — This is something you haven't seen in a while: Tiger Woods is leading a tournament.
Woods is tied with Tom Hoge for the lead after 36 holes at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro. Tiger followed his 64 on Thursday with a 5-under 65 on Friday at Sedgefield Country Club. He and Hoge are 11 under heading into the weekend.
In his post-round press conference, Woods acknowledged the player who'll be paired with him Saturday is a mystery (SN's Ray Slover notes Hoge is a 26-year-old pro from North Dakota).
"No, I don't know. What is it? Or who is it?" Woods said when he'd ever heard of Hoge. When Woods was told Hoge is the tournament co-leader, he laughed and said, "I've never met him, never seen him. Don't know anything about him." That brought laughter from the media as well, as Woods showed a side that hasn't been seen recently.
Woods said Hoge isn't the only unfamiliar face on the golf course.
"There are so many guys out here I don't know on tour," he said. "I've been hurt, and I haven't played that much. You go up and down the range and and so many players in their early 20s and you just . . . it's just funny because I look on the Champions Tour leaderboard and I know every one of those guys because I played against them and I played with them."
More from Woods:
On how he played Friday: "I scored well today. I wasn't quite as sharp as I was yesterday. I kept leaving my iron shots above the hole. I couldn't quite get the ball underneath the hole where I could have some aggressive looks."
On how the past two days have helped his confidence: "I think it's just a matter of getting something out of my rounds. As I was saying earlier, I just couldn't seem to get everything out of my round I should have. It's so close to going either way and this week I've done a pretty good job of handling it and positioning my golf ball around the course. I've had a couple of good putts and made them."
On playing with Davis Love III on Tuesday: "I had only seen this course on TV and had never seen how much movement these greens have. That's something that Davis was trying to tell me."
On whether he thought he game was back: "You are never there, or back. Even when I had my good rounds and tournaments and good spells throughout my career you're never there. You are always trying to get a little bit better."
On how he felt about his chances: "Well, I think I'm playing well enough, but we are just at 36 holes, and have 36 more to go. We've still got a long way to go."
Woods does have a long way to go, but after Friday it's clear to the golf world that he is much closer to getting there than we thought.