The pair obviously enjoy playing together, and Tiger confirmed that it is always a pleasure for him to play with his good friend Darren.

On the front nine the birdie blitz began. After a par by Tiger, on the dogleg first, which had yielded many birdies during the day, Jim Furyk got to within one shot, Tiger then changed gear, he birdied the 2nd, the 4th the 5th and then the 6th, to open up a huge gap, well clear of the rest.

Tiger looked in control of his game, he was and he proved it. His iron play was majestic, and his putting incredible, fairways and greens, the simple solution.

The nearest players were then tied on ten under par, five shots behind, Furyk, Harrington, David Howell and Stewart Cink, there was no imminent danger. The rain began falling heavily as they came down the finishing stretch, but by then the damage had been done.

Tiger finished with a 64, to go alongside his course record 63 from day one, a total of 127, fifteen under par.

Quite remarkable.

Round of the day from the rest, was by Brett Quigley, with a 64, and crowd favourite Monty finished strongly to get home with a 66.

One of the gritty rounds of the day was by Lee Westwood, a solid 66, 32 on the back nine and 34 on the front, finishing five under, after shooting level par on day one, when at one time he had been four over.

Jim Furyk had another excellent day, shooting six under par, to be alongside David Howell, who shot 66 , one ahead of Padraig Harrington who dropped a shot at the end of his round to fall out of the tie for second spot.

Despite weary legs, the top five players at the half way stage had all played in the Ryder Cup, though even Tiger admitted that he was feeling tired now and looking forward to a rest.

Padraig rightly said that Tiger is very unlikely to come back to the field, so it is up to the rest to get after him. A tough task the way he is playing.