You can see why Woods wanted to make this his debut tournament. It also helps that Riviera is playing such that the ball is getting a good rollout. As Woods explained after his round Friday, his lower body can no longer push off the ground to get more distance, but by carefully using his core, he can still attain 180 mph ball speed and hit the ball plenty far. Woods is tied for 25th in driving distance this week and has kept up with his playing partners, both of whom hit the ball a long way. Uggetti: His driver is still going very far. I don't have that because of the limitations in my back and my leg." I don't have the high one like some of these guys do, like the two guys in my group, they can hit that ball and send it. But yes, this is what I've been doing at home, this is the speed I've been hitting it. I've got to be very careful in how I go about that. "But if I step on it and use my core too much, then my back's not very good. "There's things technically that we have found that work, but if I try and step on it and use the ground, it just doesn't happen anymore," Woods said. He's using a lot of core strength, but has to be careful doing that because of his fused back. He said he can no longer push off the ground to create explosion because of his surgically repaired right leg, foot and ankle. Woods' ball speed was in the 170 mph to 180 mph range on Friday. McIlroy, one of the longest hitters on tour, averaged 310.5 yards. In the first two rounds, Woods averaged 301 yards off the tee, which will be close to ranking in the top 25 in the field. In the second round, he had 364-yard drives on the third and 15th holes and a 325-yarder on the first. Most players in their late 40s aren't hitting that far, even ones who haven't faced the medical issues Woods has. Schlabach: After all of his surgeries, I think it's absolutely remarkable that Woods is still averaging more than 300 yards off the tee. "Bones and Joey go back forever, so it was a lot of fun." What's going well for him? Woods is playing well off the tee, averaging 301 yards on Friday. "It was an unbelievable pairing to have those two great guys and two great loops on the bag," Woods said. Maybe it's the long time away from the game or the fact that Woods is in a different stage of his career, but it seemed that he was more willing to admit how much fun he had playing with two of his closest friends as well as with Thomas's caddie, Jim "Bones" Mackay. It doesn't sit well with them that a 47-year-old player who has undergone myriad surgeries on his back, neck, knees and right leg can still smash a ball past them. He really seems to love poking JT and Rory when he drives the ball past them. Schlabach: I think it was absolutely best pairing Woods could have asked for to get his competitive juices flowing again. How much did playing with Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas help him out? The grouping of McIlroy, Thomas and Woods was certain to bring the best out of each of them. Endurance will continue to be his biggest test this week and beyond. Given that the turnaround from Thursday to Friday was a quick one that, as Woods said, required plenty of ice and treatment overnight, it was no surprise he may have slowed down and experienced more discomfort in the second round. After missing the fairway right on the ninth hole (his last hole of the day) he was the last to walk up the fairway in his group, and he took his time with seemingly every step. Paolo Uggetti: Woods wasn't that noticeably worse when walking around Riviera on Friday, but as the birdies stopped dropping on the back nine, he seemed to slow down his walk a bit. I couldn't believe Woods actually admitted that he had butterflies and nerves on Thursday. I think his frustration with his putting probably drained him of some of the adrenaline he had in the opening round. Woods did seem to make a point to interact with the fans. I think playing on Friday wasn't as much fun, and he didn't seem to be interacting with his playing partners, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy, as much as he did a day earlier. Mark Schlabach: In terms of walking and his swing, not much looked different from Thursday to Friday. Thursday? Woods' surgically repaired right leg and right foot seemed to hold up under the stress of playing 18 holes in consecutive days. Our experts weigh in on his return to competitive golf: How did Woods look on Friday vs. Given a layoff of seven months since his last competitive round of golf at The Open, Woods making the cut is no small feat. It was still enough for him to make the cut. He shot a 3-over 74 to finish the first two rounds at 1-over. LOS ANGELES - After dazzling the crowd at Riviera Country Club on Thursday with three straight birdies in his final three holes to shoot 2-under in his first PGA Tour round in over 844 days, things looked a bit different for Tiger Woods on Friday.
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