Tulsa,Oklahoma, reuters: Tiger Woods tied a major championship record with a spectacular 63 in charging to a two-stroke lead over fellow American Scott Verplank in the second round of the US PGA Championship on Friday.
Woods came agonisingly close to setting the all-time low round in a major as his putt for birdie at the 18th hole spun out of the cup leaving him to tap in for par.

"I knew if I made that putt on the last hole, it would have been a nice little record to have," world number one Woods said about missing the birdie putt for 62.

The remarkable round lifted Woods to six-under-par 134, two strokes better than Verplank, who shot a bogey-free round of 66. Australian Geoff Ogilvy (68) and Canadian Stephen Ames (69) were tied at 137. The 31-year-old American became the 21st player to shoot a 63 in one of the four major championships and the 10th to do so in a PGA Championship.

Greg Norman and Vijay Singh have both twice shot 63s in majors, and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark was the last to achieve it, posting the score in the third round of the 2005 PGA at Baltusrol. World number one Woods, who stood six strokes off the pace after posting a one-over-par 71 in the opening round, scorched the Southern Hills layout late on another sweltering day with eight birdies against a lone bogey. Woods made three birdies in his first five holes before taking a bogey-five at the seventh where he had an awkward lie in a greenside bunker.
From the ninth hole, he caught fire again, pouring in putts in a burst of scoring that saw him bag five birdies in an electrifying, seven-hole stretch. Gunning for his first major crown since last year's PGA, Woods largely ignored his driver and focused on placing the ball. He was deadly on the greens, needing just 24 putts. The lead was up for grabs early when overnight pacesetter Graeme Storm of Britain slumped to a six-over-par 76. John Daly, second overnight after an opening 67, bogeyed his first two holes and finished with 73 for even-par 140. Seventy-two players made the cut, which was set at five over par.

Jeev misses cut
Jeev Milkha Singh squandered a good start and ended the second day at four-over 74 to miss the cut.
Jeev began well with two birdies in his first three holes raising visions of ensuring action over the weekend, but then followed a series of mistakes which took his tally to 10-over 150.

Scores (US, unless stated) :
134: Tiger Woods (71 63); 136: Scott Verplank (70 66); 137: Stephen Ames (Canada, 68 69), Geoff Ogilvy (Australia, 69 68); 138: Woody Austin (68 70); 139: John Senden (Australia, 69 70), Niclas Fasth (Sweden, 71, 68);  Pat Perez (70 69); 140: Adam Scott (Australia 72 68), Paul McGinley (Ireland, 74 66), Camilo Villegas (Colombia, 69 71), Arron Oberholser (68 72), Ernie Els (South Africa, 72 68), John Daly (67 73); 141: Stuart Appleby (Australia, 73 68), Troy Matteson (72 69), Graeme Storm (Britain, 65 76), Retief Goosen (South Africa, 70 71).