Baddeley, Byrd flying high

Sure it's Aaron Baddeley and Jonathan Byrd sitting tied atop the leaderboard at 9 under after two rounds of the BMW Championship.

But for Chicago golf fans, the focus isn't on the leaders, it's on the lurkers -- as in Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker. The pair took wildly divergent paths but nevertheless finished a wet and windy day in the same spot, tied for third, just a shot out of the lead.

Stricker did it with precision from tee to green, while Woods was the bizzaro Stricker, spending much of his day struggling with various clubs -- particularly his putter -- before finally reining it in over the last 10 holes en route to a second consecutive round of 67.

"I started out hitting it just great; it seemed like within 10 or 12 feet on every hole, and I made nothing," Woods said. "I felt so bad over my putts.

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

While Woods yo-yoed, his playing partner was strictly Steady Stevie, hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation and making his way around Cog Hill in 28 putts for the second straight day.

"It was a good day," said Stricker, winner of the opening FedEx Cup event -- The Barclays -- two weeks ago in New York. "I gave myself a lot of opportunities. Pretty much every aspect of my game was pretty good."

Not easy to do on a day that featured a 3-hour rain delay only an hour after play had begun. When play finally resumed, so did the gusty winds.

"It was tough out there," Stricker said. "It was tough to figure out which direction the wind was blowing, but we did a good job and got it on the greens."

The only player to reach double-digits under par at any point Friday was Camilo Villegas, who got all the way to 11 under before some bad luck in the thick rough at No. 4 cost him a double-bogey.

"It is what it is," said Villegas, who's in a four-way tie for third with Woods, Stricker and Justin Rose heading into the weekend.

While the focus will no doubt be elsewhere this weekend, Byrd will be content to just keep plodding away in search of an upset victory.

"I'm here to win this golf tournament," he said. "I don't know if I will. I'll be fine if I don't but obviously I'd be excited if I do.

"But I just want to keep playing the way I've been playing and stay aggressive and just look forward to the challenge."

Baddeley, who made a run for the title at the U.S. Open in June, has parlayed his newfound accuracy this week into a share of the lead at the midway point. In the first two rounds of the BMW, the young Australian has hit greens in regulation at an 80 percent clip -- well above his season average.

"I've been hitting the ball better all year and the misses are getting straighter," Baddeley said. "I feel very comfortable with my golf swing."

Tournament officials estimated Friday's attendance to be in the 30,000 range, an estimate most everyone else saw as quite generous, unless of course they were counting legs.

"The crowds haven't really come out this year so far," Woods said. "Granted we moved the tee times up (Thursday) and then had the bad weather today -- so it's been kind of a double dip against the tournament.

"Hopefully this weekend people will come out and we'll get some great weather and hopefully we can play some good golf and get everyone fired up."