Woods rebounds, Mickelson struggles and Chopra leads

LEMONT, Ill. (AP) _ The way Phil Mickelson sees it, he needs to shoot 7 or 8 under par Saturday to have a chance to win the Western Open. <br/><br/>His focus is on a bigger prize, though: the British Open.

Saturday, July 8th 2006, 11:16 am

By: News On 6

LEMONT, Ill. (AP) _ The way Phil Mickelson sees it, he needs to shoot 7 or 8 under par Saturday to have a chance to win the Western Open.

His focus is on a bigger prize, though: the British Open.

``These next two rounds I'll use as a chance to get my game sharp, hopefully, for the British,'' Mickelson said.

While Tiger Woods rebounded from a rough opening round at the Western and Stewart Cink jumped into contention with one of the best performances ever at the tournament, Mickelson stumbled with a 3-over 74 on Friday.

Woods shot a 4-under 67 during the second round, a day after struggling for a 1 over. Still, he was seven shots behind leader Daniel Chopra, who carded a 5-under 66 to hold a two-stroke lead over Vijay Singh at Cog Hill.

Chopra, who began the day in a four-way tie for the lead, is at 10 under. Singh shot 67 to stand at 8 under. Mickelson, who went into the second round one stroke back, is now nine behind the leader.

But it was Cink who impressed after a 6-under 29 on the front nine tied the tournament's nine-hole record. His 64 for the round was one off the mark for 18 holes. That put him at 7-under 135 and in a tie for third with Trevor Immelman and Joe Ogilvie.

``I can't remember playing nine holes any better than that,'' Cink said. ``I don't think I missed a shot, and I didn't miss many putts, either.''

After shooting 71 in the first round, Cink birdied six of the first nine holes and finished with nine in all. His only blemishes were bogeys on 13 and 18.

Mickelson seemed to answer any questions about his psyche Thursday when he shot a 4 under in his first tournament following his collapse on the final hole of the U.S. Open.

But things came apart early Friday.

Mickelson bogeyed the second, third, fourth and fifth holes and was at 4-over 39 through the first nine. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what went wrong, saying, ``Things kind of didn't go my way at all.''

The fact that he was in Cink's group only magnified his struggles.

``The greens are firming up, so the scores won't be as low,'' Mickelson said. ``They were pretty firm today, and it was hard to get the ball close on a lot of the holes, even though we had short irons in. I think if I can shoot 7 or 8 under par (Saturday), I'll probably be within four or five of the lead.''

While Mickelson faltered, Woods seemed to benefit from a long practice session following the opening round.

After failing to make the cut at the U.S. Open, Woods was in danger again. He spent several hours on the range after his round Thursday working on various elements _ or, as he called it, ``a combo platter.''

``If I didn't do a couple things right, I couldn't do the next couple,'' said Woods, a three-time winner at Cog Hill.

On Thursday, his ``distance control'' was off. On Friday, he struggled a bit with his putting game.

He started on the 10th tee and birdied Nos. 11, 13, 14, 15, and 17 but was even the rest of the way. He missed short birdie putts on his final two holes. And he bogeyed No. 16.

``I'm pleased with the way I was able to make the changes from yesterday to today and adapt, and hopefully ... (I) get it turned around for tomorrow.''

Singh had four birdies and no bogeys. His tee shots were a little off on his first nine holes, but he turned that around.

Chopra, whose best finish this year is a tie for fifth at Pebble Beach in February, birdied seven of nine holes at one point, starting with the par-4 10th.

``It's funny because I do tend to get that way,'' he said. ``There have been a few stretches early in the season, as well, where I'd get it going. I think this is probably the biggest stretch, with seven birdies in nine holes.''