• The Barclays, Round Two

Tiger tames McIlroy in personal battle

Tiger Woods found himself in some tricky positions on day two but still managed to shoot a competitive score © Getty Images

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Tiger Woods continued to get the better of Rory McIlroy in their personal duel, opening up a five-shot advantage over the Ulsterman to move within three shots of co-leaders Nick Watney and Sergio Garcia at The Barclays.

Woods and McIlroy, paired together for the opening two rounds of the first of the FedEx Cup play-off events, had contrasting rounds on Friday, with the former moving into contention after a two-under 69 and the former tumbling down the standings following an error-strewn 73.

Fourteen-time major winner Woods got off to a terrible start, two bogeys immediately putting him on the back foot. However, he quickly composed himself and rallied with three birdies in five holes to head for the turn one-under through nine.

A period of consolidation followed, the American doing well not to drop a shot as he rattled off four pars in a row from the 10th. He turned a modest score into a useful one when picking up another shot before the close on five-under for the week.

US PGA winner McIlroy was unable to build on his encouraging first-round 69, a string of errors sending him spiralling down the leaderboard and out of contention. There were moments to cheer but five bogeys across 18 holes leaves him stranded on level-par.

Watney is on eight-under after a 69, which included an eagle-three at the par-five fourth, and the American has Garcia for company after the Spaniard continued his good form with a 68.

Vijay Singh (67) is giving chase on seven-under, along with Bob Estes (66), while Ryder Cup hopeful Padraig Harrington has work to do if he is to give European captain Jose Maria Olazabal a selection headache after a forgettable 75 saw him fall to three-under.

Harrington is relying on Olazabal to select him as one of his two wildcard picks on Monday, but the three-time major winner will not have boosted his chances after his second-day collapse.

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