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By Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

LEMONT, Ill. -- While in the midst of his second round Friday afternoon at the BMW Championship, Tiger Woods began to get a sense that the lead after 36 holes might be somewhere around 10-12 under par.

Camilo Villegas has a chance for his first TOUR win this weekend. (WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

CAMILO VILLEGAS THRU 36 HOLES

Category Total Rank Eagles 1 T1 Birdies 10 T6 Pars 22 T42 Bogeys 2 T57 Double Bogeys 1 T7 Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 67.9% T22 Driving Distance 289.5 yds. 31 Greens in Regulation 80.6% T1 Putts per Round 28.0 T10 Putts per GIR 1.621 5 Sand Saves 100.0% T1

• Camilo Villegas Player Page

A splendid run of early birdies put Camilo Villegas right in that neighborhood, and even though he couldn't close as strongly as he would have liked, the Columbian youngster was nonplussed, knowing that he has set up house in the tournament's luxury subdivision with company anyone wouldn't mind keeping.

"I'm feeling good, and I'm playing really well," Villegas, 25, said after a 2-under-par 69 left him in a four-way tie for third at 8-under 134 and in Saturday's third-to-last pairing with none other than Woods. "I'd like to have a couple of holes back, but that's golf, you know? I'm still excited about the way I'm playing."

He should be. The dashing Villegas is one off the lead held by Jonathan Byrd and Aaron Baddeley despite a raggedy finish in which he lost three strokes to par. Through 12 holes he had been cruising with five birdies, all of them from 12 feet or closer, and he did not have a blemish on the card to move to 11 under par and two shots clear of the field.

Though he missed only three greens all day in swirling winds, two of the miscues would prove costly. A bladed chip shot led to a double-bogey at the par-4 fourth hole, his 13th hole of the round, and a poor iron shot long and left at the eighth hole caused him to drop another shot.

"I made a mess of one hole and I hit one bad shot on 17. Otherwise, it was a really good day," Villegas said. "Really, I've got no complaints. I'm not unhappy at all."

Villegas has been on somewhat of a roll as the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup have unfolded. He has stepped up to finish 21st and ninth in the first two legs, respectively. He hasn't finished outside the top 30 in his last five events and at last week's Deutsche Bank Championship he fired off a little 63 in the first round.

Ranked 34th at the start of the week but intent on qualifying for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, Villegas can't point to any one facet of his game as the reason he's moved up the points standings and leaderboards of late. Determination counts for something. A growing comfort level on the PGA TOUR doesn't hurt.

Shaking off inevitable errors that come with the game is important, too, and that's what he appeared to do Friday after the round when he said, "I'm not going to let a few bad swings take away from what I did today.

"Sometimes, you get away with making a mistake. Today I didn't," he added. "It's not something I figure I need to worry about because I know how I'm playing. I am comfortable with what I'm doing."