Tiger Woods closes on Ian Poulter at Turkish Open

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods fired a stunning 63 to surge to within one of the leaders after two rounds of the Turkish Open.

The world number one reached 11 under to put pressure on the leading quartet of Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and South African Justin Walters.

Poulter shot a second 66, while Race to Dubai leader Stenson took 68.

Englishman Paul Casey, overnight leader after a rain-affected first day, was seven shots back after a 73.

US Open champion Justin Rose and former world number one Lee Westwood were both four shots off the lead at the halfway stage in Antalya.

Woods finished the first day one-under-par after 10 holes, and went onto sign for a two-under 70 when he resumed on Friday, after dropping a shot at the last when he found water.

The 37-year-old Woods raced through the field in his second round - collecting nine birdies as he posted the lowest score of the tournament so far.

Before the event, Woods was forced to defend his schedule after missing the World Golf Championships event in Shanghai last week after accepting a £1.25m fee to play an exhibition match against Rory McIlroy.

But the 14-time major champion is sure he will remain a contender if the scoring remains low in Turkey.

"I'm right there; that's the whole idea. I've got two more days of hopefully making a lot of birdies," he said.

"I hit a lot of good shots and made some putts but I missed quite a few putts that were within 10 feet, so it could have been one of those really low, special rounds, but I'll take it.

"It's so bunched, so many guys with a chance to win. We know it's going to take something really low. You're going to have to go 20 plus [under par] probably to win this tournament."

After just one bogey in his opening round, Poulter produced another impressive performance in picking up four of his six birdies in the final six holes.

The Englishman is fourth in the European Tour's Race to Dubai rankings behind Stenson, Graeme McDowell and Rose.