Jul 19, 2013 04:18 PM EDT
British Open 2013 Leaderboard: Tiger Woods In Striking Distance For Miguel Angel Jimenez Claret Jug Championship Lead As Lee Westwood, Dustin Johnson Second Into Saturday

The British Open has been a sun drenched spectacle of difficulty for many golfers at Muirfield Golf Links in Scotland, but not everyone has been having such a hard time, as Tiger Woods is squarely in contention as the tournament heads into Saturday play, as he sits just one stroke behind Miguel Jimenez for the leaderboard's top spot.

Woods had an even day on Friday in the second round after shooting a two under par on Thursday in the opening round and now he has the chance to go for his first major championship in 20 tries and his first since winning the US Open back in 2008 when he did it in a playoff on basically one knee. Jimenez holds a one stroke lead over Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Dustin Johnson and Woods, while a number of other players are close, but only nine are under par for the tournament heading into the weekend.

Woods has played better on Thursday and Friday in recent majors than he has on the weekend, but he has a chance to change that up this weekend in Scotland. Last time on the course at Muirfield Woods put up the worst score of his career, but that appears to be out of his system, as was his performance from last time he was on the course a month ago at the US Open. Woods dealt with an elbow injury in that major and he said he was fine heading into the British Open and that appears to be true, as he was solid all day on Friday.

Woods' biggest challenge was converting a number of par puts on the day and that saved his score and now he sits with a 2-under 140 total heading into Saturday.  Woods missed out on the par-5 ninth for a birdie and bogeyed on the 11th hole, but he was able to save par on the 10th, 13th and 14th holes and finished with a solid play on the 18th to get even on the day. Graeme McDowell said Woods looks like he is playing with a winning hand, but both spoke on Friday about the tough conditions on the course.

Charl Schwartzel took the course to task on Friday, saying that the conditions on the day were unfair and basically a "lottery" for the players to deal with. Schwartzel had a very good day and is just one over par, but as he tries to win the Claret Jug he realizes that challenges still lie ahead. Rory McIlroy took himself out of action on the first day with a rough round, while Phil Mickelson is still in contention as play moves to the weekend.

Leaderboard:

POS     START            CTRY  PLAYER          TO PAR           TODAY           THRU  R1        R2        R3        R4            TOT

1          4                      Miguel Jimenez            -3         E          F          68        71        -           -           139

T2        15                    Henrik Stenson            -2         -1         F          70        70        -           -           140

T2        27                    Lee Westwood -2         -3         F          72        68        -           -           140

T2        9                      Tiger Woods    -2         E          F          69        71        -           -           140

T2        4                      Dustin Johnson            -2         +1        F          68        72        -           -           140

T6        15                    Martin Laird     -1         E          F          70        71        -           -           141

T6        2                      Rafael Cabrera Bello   -1         +3        F          67        74        -           -           141

T6        1                      Zach Johnson  -1         +4        F          66        75        -           -           141

T6        9                      Angel Cabrera  -1         +1        F          69        72        -           -           141

10        27                    Ryan Moore     E          -1         F          72        70        -           -           142

T11      9                      Jordan Spieth   +1        +3        F          69        74        -           -           143

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