Tiger Woods still on top at Doral
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-03 09:35

And his 64 could have been better had he not wasted shots on the par 5s.

He was pin-high on the par-5 eighth in two, elected to chip and blew it by 6 feet, missing the birdie putt. From the 10th fairway, he hit 5-wood toward the green and immediately flung it to the ground when he saw it turn to the left, into the water hazard. He took a penalty drop and chipped close to save par.

But he atoned for that with tremendous drives that left short irons into the green, and one good break when he chipped in from 25 feet on the par-3 15th.

Asked if it was his best round of the year, Woods paused to think before remembering the Match Play Championship.

"I played similar to this — at least for 10 holes — at La Costa," he said, referring to his record 9-and-8 victory over Stephen Ames in the first round, when Woods birdied seven of his first nine holes.

Mickelson has been held back only by his putting, and that was among his best clubs in the bag Thursday. He took only 25 putts, although he sure would have liked to make the 20-footer on his last hole.

"I was trying to get the last one to pull even with him," Mickelson said. "But I just couldn't quite do it."

There's three more days to sort that out.