Florida Swing Special Report Saturday 9 March - Friday review

Many in the media and the public were quick to say that this was the Tiger Woods of 2000, but for me it was more like the Tiger Woods of 2005, 2006 and 2007. For two days the 14-time Major champion demonstrated consistency, confidence, accuracy and a killer touch on the greens that Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray said he had not seen from Woods since his most recent major win in 2008, Friday's round of 65 was very reminiscent of his performance on the Friday of the 2007 US Open at Oakmont. He looked comfortable with his swing and hit 83% of the greens in regulation during the second round, resulting in a PGA Tour career record number of 17 birdies in the first two rounds of a strokeplay tournament. The 6-time WGC-Cadillac champion and 3-time winner at Doral opened up a two-stroke lead over 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell, the Ulsterman heads a chasing pack which includes Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Keegan Bradley and Dustin Johnson. Woods' performance has stretched what was a very tightly bunched field to one where he has a seven-shot lead over the 10^th placed players John Huh, Sergio Garcia, John Senden, Peter Hanson, Michael Thompson, Ian Poulter, Zach Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Mike Hendry, Jason Dufner and Thaworn Wiratchant.

For two days this has looked very much like the Woods of Friday at Oakmont in June 2007, but we all know that Tiger Woods in the last 12-18 months has had several false dawns in big tournaments and has flattered to deceive over the weekend and it remains to be seen whether the same will happen over this weekend. The wind is expected to play more of a part in proceedings on Saturday and Sunday and could affect the leader board significantly. One thing is for sure this chasing pack is experienced, successful and hungry for a World Golf Championship competing with Tiger Woods and any stumble will be punished, unlike in the early years of the 2000's when Tiger's only rivals were Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen.

Not among the chasing pack though is the World Number One, despite a much better round on Friday. He opened with a drive which split the fairway and a second shot deep into the green and followed it with two putts for a settling birdie, but showed the frailties he has demonstrated in the early weeks of this season by bogeying the fourth and sixth holes to fall to 2-over for the tournament and at the time a massive 12 shots behind his playing partner and tournament leader Tiger Woods. But Rory McIlroy isn't the World Number One for no reason, his career has been lit up by back-nine surges and yesterday was no different, finding birdies at 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 to move himself to 3-under and 10 behind Woods with just the 18^th hole to play in a much more promising second round. Once again though the McIlroy of 2013 showed he just isn't playing to the standards he set for the last couple of years, despite finding the fairway with his drive and playing his approach to some 20 feet he contrived to take three putts and undo some of the great work on the back nine. At 2-under-par and some 11 shots off Woods' lead you would have to say he needs two rounds of 64 to stand any chance in a tournament which is laden with birdies and with a collection of great players ahead of him.

This coming weekend will be the final weekend of the current Blue Monster layout, all but the 18^th hole will be remarkably different the next time the world returns to South Florida in 12 months time and it isn't before time that this relic of a course is overhauled. If, because the PGA Tour have decided, the WGC-Cadillac Championship has to remain at Doral for ten more years it needs a course which is worthy of such a premier tournament and barring the 18^th and maybe the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th holes the Blue Monster is more like a Blue pussy cat. The course needs to have more risk-reward holes where birdie chances are available but equally chances of making a bogey or double-bogey should be possible. I wouldn't want to see the course become like PGA National where missing the fairway means a bogey and the course plays into the hands of a steady-eddy like Michael Thompson but I want to see more thrills and spills which would keep 10 or 20 players in contention for the weekend.

Whatever my personal feelings about the Blue Monster the resort of Doral and this course has had a sensational history of world-class champions and world-class fields and this weekend will be the final chapter of an illustrious history for the 'old' Blue Monster, with a group of genuinely world-class contenders chasing the greatest player of the last 17 years for the year's second World Golf Championship. Tiger Woods looks like he is in a commanding position, but you just cannot predict modern golf tournaments and with such a fantastic leader board anything is possible.

Live coverage begins in the United States at 11am ET on Golf Channel and continues at 1.30pm ET on NBC, in the UK Sky Sports has exclusively live coverage from 5pm GMT. Sky's team includes Butch Harmon and Peter Oosterhuis, fronted by David Livingstone, who has now been the Sky Sports golf presenter for 20 years and has presented every World Golf Championship bar two since the series began in 1999.