Patience the key for Woods

Tiger Woods holes out from a bunker at the 18th to close within four of the lead

Tiger Woods refused to waver from his cautious game plan as a thrilling finish to his second round helped him remain firmly in contention for a fourth Open Championship title.

Woods, who has rarely appeared on the leaderboard since winning at Hoylake in 2006, used his driver only once during a relatively stress-free 67 that left him four behind leader Brandt Snedeker.

"It's just patience on a golf course like this. I'm hitting the ball in the fairway and that's the thing around this golf course - you just have to do that. "
Tiger Woods Quotes of the week

Fairways and greens was the order of the day for the 14-time major champion, who picked up shots at the fourth and sixth before running up and untidy bogey-six at the 11th.

But he birdied 16 and then delighted his legion of fans at the last when he splashed out of a greenside bunker and found the cup to prompt a familiar fist pump.

"It wasn't as hard as it may have looked," said Woods. "Because I was on the up-slope I could take out that steepness coming off the bunker and land the ball on the flat.

"I just threw it up there, played about a cup outside the left and it landed on my spot and rolled to the right.

Gameplan

"Overall I'm very pleased at where I'm at - I'm right there in the mix. I figured I had a gameplan that I thought would fit well on this golf course and I figured I could execute it.

"It's just patience on a golf course like this. I'm hitting the ball in the fairway and that's the thing around this golf course - you just have to do that.

"You can't control it out of the rough here and obviously the pot bunkers you can't do anything but come out sideways.

"It's demanding. You can take your chances, but you'd better pull it off or be conservative and play to different spots.

"It's about commitment because most of the holes are on angles and the bunkers are staggered."