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Mickelson and Woods bear down on leaders

02/09/2007

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods shared the round-of-the-day accolades as they moved closer to leaders Aaron Baddeley, Rich Beem and Mike Weir after two rounds of the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Mickelson is now just one shot behind the trio on eight-under-par at the halfway stage of the event while Woods is on six-under-par after a poor first round.

Playing together alongside former US Masters champion Vijay Singh, Mickelson and Woods both carded rounds of 64 to rise quickly up the leaderboard.

Mickelson had a flawless round, picking up five birdies and an eagle three at the 18th hole. Woods made six birdies and an eagle two at the fourth hole, his only dropped shot came at the first hole, which was his tenth after their group had begun on the back nine.

The pair clearly enjoyed playing together, Woods said: "We all made some putts and got it going.

"You know, when you get in those groups when you all feed off one another, when you're all going low, all making birdies, those are the fun pairings to get involved in."

Mickelson hopes to be challenging Woods for the title on the final day, he added: "I'm hoping if we both play well tomorrow, we'll have a great chance to be paired together in the last group on Monday."

The leading trio also enjoyed good days; Beem overcame some inconsistencies to finish with four consecutive birdies to give him a share of the lead.

Baddeley made four birdies and two bogeys on the front nine but added a further three birdies on the back nine to finish on five-under for the day.

Weir added a three-under score to the five-under that had placed him second overnight to maintain his consistent form over the weekend.

Camilo Villegas, who led overnight, carded a round of one-over after making two birdies and three bogeys.