Tiger Woods growls again to score stunning 65 for shair of halfway lead Twirling the club after each fairway-splitting drive, stirring the crowd with each sumptuous iron shot, clenching the first after each critical birdie putt, golf's greatest draw displayed a familiar swagger as he shot a formidable 65 to seize the halfway lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. On the Orlando course where he had won six times already, Woods" belief was back. After a week of being buffeted by revelations in former mentor Hank Haney's book, *The Big Miss*, Woods delivered a most eloquent response on these manicured Florida fairways. With ball-striking of breathtaking purity, honed by months of practice drills with coach Sean Foley, he demonstrated that all the elements of his remodelled swing were finally dovetailing. Even his putting, notoriously flaky of late, proved reliable as he holed out from 32 feet at the seventh for a fourth consecutive birdie. "Each round is a stepping stone," Woods said. Everything's moving properly. Everything's good. With only 12 days to go to the Masters, Woods is rediscovering his range at the perfect time. His course management was impeccable yesterday: at the sixth, a dogleg par-five around a lake, he rejected the driver in favour of a stinging low three-wood; then at the 220-yard 17th, his face was a picture of concentration as he watched his tee-shot into the breeze trickle to within 15 feet of the pin. For the first time in five years, Woods also hit 18 straight greens in regulation. It followed that he returned not a single dropped stroke, reaching the clubhouse at 10 under par, one clear of Jason Dufner and a resurgent Graeme McDowell, who fired a stunning 63. Should he claim a seventh Bay Hill title tomorrow night, it would mark his first official tournament win since his private life unravelled so spectacularly in Nov 2009. At his apex, when Woods muscled his way to four straight Orlando triumphs from 2000 to 2003, plus another two in 2008 and 2009, that much would have been guaranteed. But upon his return from his sex scandal, he has struggled to sustain his customary brilliance over 72 holes. This weekend, then, will offer a telling litmus test of the state of his game in the lead-up to Augusta. Graeme McDowell, though, was determined to seal a piece of the action. With a stunning nine-under-par 63, one of the top two rounds of his career, he reminded Rory McIlroy's adoring public that there was more than one major champion from Northern Ireland. After a trying year in which he admitted to "pressing the panic button," McDowell was a model of serenity, fashioning seven birdies and an eagle that underlined the gifts he had shown in winning the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach. The 63 was even more gratifying for the vivid contrast it formed with his performance here in Orlando last year, when he had laboured to an opening 80 that the Ulsterman described as a "wake-up call." McDowell, reliving a grim spell in which he had thrown away a Sunday lead at last season's Player Championship, acknowledged: "I didn't wake up for another four months or so. Little did I know I would go on to self-destruct at the Players. I kind of hit rock bottom and started to bounce up again. It was a pretty awful four or five months for me. But you learn a lot from an 80 and tough beats in your career. I feel like I'm a different person 12 months on. I guess I'll look back in 10 years on the time when I got to grips with the spotlight and being a top player in the world. I want to win more majors, to be the best player I can be.