Tiger Woods in a sweat as Cantlay and Schwartzel set the pace

Tiger Woods carded two birdies and one bogey in a second round of 71 yesterday to end the day one under par. Picture: Getty.

Still to be determined was whether Tiger Woods gets a chance to catch them.

Schwartzel never came close to a bogey in his round of six-under 66 on another day of warm weather and good scoring conditions at Ponte Vedra Beach. Cantlay was as efficient as ever except for one bad break that led to bogey on the par-5 ninth. He had a 68.

They were at ten-under 134, one ahead of Chesson Hadley (69) and two shots clear of Jason Day (67), Steve Stricker (69) and Xander Schauffele (68).

Much like at the Masters and last week at Quail Hollow, Woods has not been much of a factor. He had a wedge or short iron in his hands on half of his holes and rarely got it close, making two birdies for a 71.

Woods was just inside the cut line with half the field, including Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy, still on the course last night. It looked as though it would be enough to make the cut. He has missed it only once in 17 previous appearances, when he withdrew after nine holes with an injury.

“I didn’t have much of what I wanted,” Woods said. “With these greens as soft as they are, I didn’t take advantage of the opportunities I had today to really shoot a good number.”

That wasn’t an issue for Schwartzel, Cantlay and everyone else trying to get into position for a week where the course figures to get firmer and tougher.

Schwartzel, pictured inset, missed only two greens – one on the fringe, another from a few feet off green – as he had another week of getting results he needed to see. He tied for third with Louis Oosthuizen as his partner in New Orleans. He tied for ninth last week at Quail Hollow.

“I felt it being good for probably the last two months but been having terrible results,” Schwartzel said. “The one key factor has been to bring the same tempo out to the course as I do when I’m playing practice rounds, because I worked really hard in the offseason on my swing and I’m very happy with where it is.”

Jimmy Walker birdied three of his last four holes for a 68 and was in the group at seven-under 137 that included Matt Kuchar (71) and Sergio Garcia (69). Phil Mickelson missed the cut for the fifth time in the last six years, though that was decided more by his 78 on Thursday. Mickelson lost momentum early with a shot in the water on the 13th hole for a double bogey, and after running off four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the front nine, he finished with three straight bogeys for a 73.

Rickie Fowler also was likely heading home after losing a ball in a tree on the way to a 71.

Woods might be the only player from that star group that gets into the weekend, though he still looks far away from contending. With a sand wedge on No 10, he went over the side of the green. His sand wedge on the par-5 11th came up 15 feet short. And on the short par-4 12th, after Fowler had stuffed one to four feet, Woods went too far and had 15 feet. He missed them all.

“That’s not the start I  wanted to have,” Woods said. “And unfortunately, kind of went the rest of the day the same way.”