Tiger Woods struggled through a scrappy front nine that included a shocking double bogey at the par-5 sixth hole, but turned it on with four birdies in a row on the back nine to play his way back into the top ten. Not his best golf but he's on the leaderboard--sound familiar? Yes, way too familiar.

I'll also be watching the sixth hole, the monster par 5 that curves left around a lake. John Daly once made a Tin Cuppish 18 there. Thursday, Japanese teen Ryo Ishikawa dunked a couple in the lake and put up a 9. It's an exciting place to spectate because there are lots of birdies, and lots of "others."

Two other guys I'll be watching are two of my favorite golfers -- Tim Herron and Jason Gore. They're normal guys. Success has never gone to their heads, or their waistlines. They're heavyweight heroes for all golfers who are XLs or bigger, throwbacks in this era of Tiger-inspired fitness, guys we can all relate to. Herron has actually won this event before. It'll be fun to see if they can remain in contention into the weekend.