LEMONT, Ill. -- Born in Sweden and raised in India, Daniel Chopra is feeling at home in the Midwest.
‘I might go out and watch a movie this afternoon,’ Chopra said Friday after taking sole possession of the lead midway through the Western Open.
Tiger Woods got back into contention with a 4-under 67.
Chopra holed out from a bunker at the 18th hole to finish off his second consecutive 5-under 66 at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club’s Dubsdread Course.
One of four overnight leaders, the unheralded pro now holds the lead alone at 10-under-par 132 -- two shots ahead of Vijay Singh, who fired a second straight 4-under 67 to move up from fifth place.
While attention-getters Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were busy trying to make the cut, Chopra found himself racing in front of the field for his first second-round lead on the PGA TOUR.
Although he said he would take in a movie, Chopra did admit he needed to work on his game before teeing off in the final pairing with world No. 3 Singh on Saturday.
‘I’ll still probably just chip and putt a little bit...just practice a couple of shots that I maybe wasn’t quite as happy with today,’ said Chopra, who is winless on the PGA TOUR.
Woods, meanwhile, followed up his opening-round 72 with a 4-under 67, climbing from a tie for 82nd place into a tie for 35th place at 3-under- par 139.
Playing for only the second time since the Masters -- and for the first time since missing the U.S. Open cut three weeks ago -- Woods spent 2 1/2 hours on the range after Thursday’s round.
It was practice that paid off: Beginning his round on the back nine, Woods carded five birdies with one bogey over his first eight holes, then parred the next 10 straight.
'[I played] a lot better today, which was exciting,’ said Woods, a three-time Western Open champion. ‘I did some good work last night.’
On the first two par-5s, Woods reached the green in two to set up birdies.
‘Overall I felt like I put myself in position off the tees to give myself some aggressive runs,’ he said. ‘I hit my irons all right today. It wasn’t great, but I’ll go do some work on that right now and get a little bit organized for tomorrow.’
Given the way his round began, Woods feels like he should be closer to the lead.
‘I felt I could have taken advantage of my back nine and made a few more birdies and gotten this thing a little bit closer to the lead,’ Woods said. ‘It looks like I’m going to have to play have a really good weekend to have a chance.’
Mickelson almost had no chance at a weekend run.
Also playing for the first time since the U.S. Open, when a double-bogey on the 72nd hole cost him a third-straight major championship, Mickelson flirted with the cut line all day.
He bogeyed four straight holes on the front nine, then recovered with two birdies and a bogey on the back. His 3-over 74 put him at 1-under-par 141 -- good for a tie for 53rd place and two shots away from being cut.
One of Mickelson’s tournament-saving shots came at the par-5 15th, where he knocked his third shot within tap-in distance to set up a birdie.
‘It wasn’t the greatest round today,’ Mickelson admitted. ‘I struggled on the greens, never really had any putts go in and was unable to get it back to even.’
The highlight of Chopra’s round came at the par-4 18th, where his hole-out represented his seventh birdie on the back nine -- this after he had played the front nine at plus-1.
‘Fortunately I was able to stay very patient, and I was actually quite proud of that,’ Chopra said. ‘When the floodgates did open, they really did.’
Chopra’s only hiccup on the back nine was a bogey at the par-4 13th, where he drove it straight left off the tee. Calling it ‘a good bogey,’ Chopra nearly holed a par-saving bunker shot before putting for his five.
‘My bunker play has been really good of late, so I felt really confident and I flopped it out and I almost made that one, too,’ Chopra said. ‘It was a good bogey in the end.’
Chopra nearly had eight birdies on the back nine, but he just missed a 16-foot putt at the 17th, settling instead for his first par since the ninth hole.
‘I was kind of thinking to myself, ‘Well, if I make this and I birdie the last, I’ve made eight birdies and a bogey,’ Chopra said. ‘That would have been kind of neat. I’ve never seen that done.’
Stewart Cink fired a 7-under 64 and shares third place with Trevor Immelman (66) and Joe Ogilvie (69) at 7-under-par 135. Defending champion Jim Furyk shot a 67 and leads a group of six players tied for sixth place at minus-6.
The cut line fell at even-par, and among those not moving on to the weekend were Chad Campbell, Mark O’Meara, Ben Curtis and Camilo Villegas.
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