The greens would be slightly smoother, the course slightly longer, the approach unchanged - see flag, aim at flag. Three majors for a 28-year-old is historically flabbergasting.
Asked what it would mean to bag his 15th major, Woods said, "A long way to go before that happens". For all the wrong reasons, Koepka has been largely overlooked like vegetables on a buffet. He tied for third at that tournament, his best finish at a major since 2009. It carried him through those lonely months of inactivity as he recovered from a left wrist injury and those far flung early days of his career when he chased his dream to the four corners of the globe on the European Challenge Tour. "But you just feel like you can have lots of chances". "I didn't even think of it. The whole time, you're just trying to prove them wrong". After his third straight birdie, at the eighth hole, that was it.
US Open champion Brooks Koepka fired a blistering 63, equalling the PGA Championship record for lowest round, to leapfrog into outright third at eight under.
Koepka gave the field a glimmer of hope after moving to 13 under with back-to-back bogeys at Nos.
"I thought I played really clean cards, really clean rounds", said Woods, who made eight birdies and three bogeys over the course of the two rounds. "Every shot's so important out here, and you need to be able to play well".
Koepka rallied with a birdie at the 17th for a two shot lead over Australian Adam Scott, who shot a fine 65, with Spanish slugger Jon Rahm (66) three off the pace alongside another big hitter in American Gary Woodland and majors almost man Rickie Fowler.
The 42-year-old American, who hasn't won a major title since the 2008 US Open and hasn't won an event in five years, sank a 14-foot birdie putt at the second, a five-footer to birdie the par-3 third and a 10-foot birdie putt at the fifth hole, then dropped in a 15-footer to salvage par after finding a bunker at the par-3 sixth. For most of Saturday's 18 holes, Woods drove traffic.
It moved him to five under on his first weekend appearance at a major after making the cut. Fowler overcame an early bogey with three birdies through 10 holes.
"I'm exhausted. I am definitely exhausted", said Woods, who sweated through four shirts in his opening five holes.
As for Woods, his new competitive reality has never been so clear.
"He was just shaking his head", Finau said after finishing the rain-delayed round this morning with a 4-under 66, a round that featured just four pars.
"I hit it good on the back nine, I just didn't make anything", Woods said.
The kinds of excited whispers typically reserved for those peering through the large crowds for a glance at Woods on the course were being used to single out one among those very crowds Saturday.
Scott had the day's best round with a 65.
The second round will resume at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday.
"Everybody wanted a picture with Dustin", Koepka smiled. "The crowds are insane so we're just trying to plan it out and see what we can see".
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