Woods almost always bites back at Torrey Pines, where he has won the Buick Invitational a record six times. This one is far more meaningful, and his late charge left him in great position to chase a U.S. Open title that has eluded him since 2002 at Bethpage Black, the last time it was held on a municipal golf course.

Mickelson, a San Diego native and three-time winner at Torrey Pines, could not keep up in the featured pairing with Woods.

He again played without a driver in the bag, and this time it might have hurt him. Lefty could not reach the par-5 13th, where Woods got home in two and made eagle, and he was 30 yards behind Woods on the sixth hole, putting his approach on the tongue of a bunker that led to one of his six bogeys.

Mickelson was at 4-over 146 and in a tie for 35th in a hometown U.S. Open he called a “once in a lifetime” chance.

Only eight players remained under par on a city-owned golf course that has been universally praised as fair — a word seldom heard at the U.S. Open — but not necessarily easy.

Woods and a few others only made it look that way.

Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain made a quiet charge, and his birdie on the par-5 ninth — three groups behind the circus following the top three players in the world — gave him a tournament-best 66. He was at 1-under 141, along with Lee Westwood of England (71), Davis Love III (69) and D.J. Trahan (69).

“If you’re 1 under par through two rounds in a U.S. Open, you’re doing something right,” Trahan said. “Like anybody will tell you, this isn’t a birdie contest. This is a survival contest.”

Woods was in that survival mode early, three-putting from long range for bogey on No. 10 and hitting his approach into the right rough for another bogey on No. 12. He was sliding down the leaderboard until smashing a drive on the 614-yard 13th hole — with the tee pushed all the way back — and hitting a fairway metal to 10 feet for eagle.

But the momentum was shifting as quickly as clouds replaced patches of sunshine along the Pacific, and Woods quickly fell of the pace. Just as suddenly, his name emerged atop the leaderboard.

Woods got a big break with his errant tee shot, the ball going so far to the right that it avoided the ankle-deep grass and came to rest just inches from the cart path on a thin lie. Taking free relief would have put him behind a tree, so Woods steadied himself and fired away with an 8-iron from 157 yards.

One birdie putt later, he was on his way.

“Whether you call it a zone or not, I got into a rhythm,” Woods said. “I’ve been there before. I’ve had nice rounds like that. I was just trying to get back to even par. I just happened to make some putts. That was it.”

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