Woods in hunt, but Couch leads

After a dismal first round left him on the wrong side of the cut at the Western Open, Tiger Woods figured he could get right back in it with a 64 or 65.

He was close.

Woods shot a 5-under 66 Friday, putting him six strokes behind leader Chris Couch and giving him at least a chance to make a move this weekend.

"It's going to be hard to shoot low this afternoon," said Woods, who is at 3-under 139. "Hopefully they won't run away from me, and I can go ahead and play a good round tomorrow and get myself back in it."

Couch, who earned a spot here by winning the Nationwide Tour's LaSalle Bank Open last month, is at 9-under 133 after a 67. Tim Herron (66), Jim Furyk (70) and Duffy Waldorf (65) are one stroke behind.

Ben Curtis, who shared the first-round lead with Furyk and Todd Fischer, shot an even-par 71 and is two strokes off the lead.

"It's still a long tournament," Couch said. "I'm trying not to think too far ahead. I'm going to take it shot by shot and keep trying to have some fun."

LPGA Match Play

Annika Sorenstam survived a big scare in the second round of the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship on Friday, holing a 30-foot birdie putt on the 21st hole to beat Tina Barrett.

Sorenstam, coming off a 23rd-place tie last week in the U.S. Women's Open, overcame three two-hole deficits before taking her first lead with a conceded par on the par-3 17th. The Swedish star needed only to halve the par-4 18th to win, but bogeyed the hole -- missing an 8-foot par try -- to send the match back to No. 1.

Champions Tour

Ron Streck, the first player to use a metal wood in competition on the PGA Tour, had a 9-under 62 on Friday and held a two-stroke lead over Craig Stadler in the opening round of the Commerce Bank Championship in East Meadow, N.Y.

-- From wire reports