Sydney - Tiger Woods did not drop a shot Friday to build a three-stroke lead going into the second half of the Australian Open. "I didn't really do anything great," Woods conceded after carding a 4-under second round on Melbourne's par-72 Kingston Heath course. "To shoot 68 today, I thought that was a pretty good number. Not to drop a shot, you feel good about those days."
Woods, at 10-under 134 after 36 holes, is three shots ahead of fellow American Jason Dufner and Australians James Nitties and Greg Chalmers.
The world's top golfer has been leading at the halfway point in his last four tournaments, but fluffed his chances on the final weekend at two of them.
But leading Australian internet betting company Sportsbet reckons it's game over and has begun paying out on a Woods win.
"Even with tough greens expected on the weekend, we expect Tiger to romp home to his first tournament win on Australian soil," Sportsbet chief executive Matthew Tripp said. "We think the Australian Masters is a foregone conclusion."
More than 24,000 people turned out to see the 33-year-old play in Australia for the first time in 11 years. All 100,000 tickets for the four-day contest sold out within hours of the 14-time major champion accepting 3 million US dollars to be the top drawcard.
Woods is the clear favourite, with around half of all bets on him to win. Australian Geoff Ogilvy, the world's 12th-ranked player, was backed to be runner-up. But Ogilvy, the 2006 US Open champion, struggled in the blustery winds that have made the sandy course a tricky proposition.
Ogilvy urged his fellow contestants not to be so in awe of Woods that he ends up winning the tournament by default.
But that warning seemed lost on Nitties, who admitted he was gunning for Woods to win. "Tiger is my idol, he's awesome, and I always want to see him win," the 27-year-old said. "He always delivers and this week is great for Australian golf."
Woods was again out on the sun-drenched course with two former champions, titleholder Rod Pampling and three-time winner Craig Parry. The three of them complained of being distracted by clicking cameras when they were taking shots.
"Not on my backswing, c'mon guys," Woods rounded on a snapper in the gallery. Pampling added: "It's fine when you are walking and there's nothing going on, but it's just when you are trying to hit - that's when it would be nice if they would just hang off."
