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By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

LEMONT, Ill. -- Ever since he was an amateur, Tiger Woods has loved coming to Chicago, particularly on those occasions when he gets to "take some money from a good friend of mine who used to play basketball."

Tiger Woods checked his swing on the 11th tee box Friday. (Jeff Gross/WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

TIGER WOODS THRU 36 HOLES

Category Total Rank Eagles 0 N/A Birdies 11 T3 Pars 23 T35 Bogeys 1 T64 Double Bogeys 1 T7 Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 67.9% T22 Driving Distance 317.0 yds. 3 Greens in Regulation 75.0% T10 Putts per Round 27.0 T3 Putts per GIR 1.630 6 Sand Saves 100.0% T1

• Tiger Woods Player Page

The bounty from those games with Michael Jordan, though, pales in comparison to the more than $2.8 million Woods has banked when the PGA TOUR visits Cog Hill. He's won the tournament here three times and finished second each of the last two years.

And it should come as no surprise that Woods has put himself in position for yet another victory this week at the BMW Championship, which is the third event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

Woods' second straight 67 has the game's No. 1 player one stroke off the lead held jointly by Jonathan Byrd and Aaron Baddeley. He's tied with Justin Rose, Steve Stricker and Camilo Villegas at 8-under 134 entering Saturday's third round.

A fourth victory by Woods would tie him with Willie Anderson and Billy Casper on the all-time list of the tournament formerly known as the Western Open. Walter Hagen holds the record with five wins between 1916 and 1932.

Woods' current tie for third, though, isn't quite enough to lift him into the No. 1 spot in the projected FedExCup standings -- yet. Phil Mickelson, who is idle this week, still holds that spot and Stricker is No. 2.

But there's still two rounds to go -- and regardless of what happens, the stage is set for a blockbuster finale at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola in Atlanta next week. Everyone currently eligible for the 30-man field has committed to play in the final Playoff event at storied East Lake Golf Club.

First, though, Woods has a golf tournament to win.

"I feel really good about it," he said. "I hit the ball really good coming in, felt really good with my putter, and hopefully I can put both of them together for 18 holes tomorrow."

Woods couldn't get anything going early Friday, reeling off five straight pars before sneaking in 7-footer for birdie at No. 6. Things changed, though, as Woods made the turn with an adventurous birdie at the 600-yard, par-5 ninth hole.

Woods backed off his drive there and said he never refocused, slicing his ball into the trees. To compound his problems, Woods caught a tree with his second shot and the ball landed in the rough on the left side of the fairway.

Hardly rattled, though, Woods proceeded to hit "some kind of snipe 8-iron up there" to the green and made the 15-footer for birdie. Routine, right?

"Hey, it turns rounds around, you know?" Woods said. "I started out hitting it just great. I hit it up there within it seemed like 10, 12 feet on every hole starting out, and I made nothing. I felt so bad over my putts.

"And all of a sudden I lost my swing in the middle part of the round and I felt great over my putts. It's just one of those weird things about golf."

Woods birdied the next par 5, rolling in a 34-footer at the 11th hole, and then responded to his only bogey of the day with a 9-footer for another birdie at No. 15. A 6-foot putt two holes later polished off the 67.

Woods couldn't have found his putter at a better time as Baddeley, Byrd and Villegas were climbing the leaderboard. He needed just 19 putts over his final 13 holes, and finished with 29 to tie for third in that category.

"The first hole I hit a good putt and I got a gust of wind that blew it off line. That's fine," Woods said. "The rest of them were all terrible putts. It was not very good. The speed was bad, the line was bad, just never felt comfortable, and then all of a sudden (I) lost my swing ... and all of a sudden I felt great on the greens."

Woods gave himself plenty of chances, too. He's 10th in greens in regulation, hitting all but nine over the first two rounds, and once he gets there, he's tied for second in approach shot distance to the pin.

"You know you're going to have to make some birdies out there, no matter what," Woods said. "But the par 5s, at least two of them, are reachable, and a lot of short par 4s with some pretty easy pins. I saw the dots out there for tomorrow.

"You're going to see some guys shoot some pretty good numbers tomorrow, and hopefully I can be one of them.