Lee Westwood welcomed the return to faster greens following the putting trials of Royal Birkdale as he moved into contention at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
Westwood shot a second-round five-under-par 65 at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, to take a share of third place at the halfway stage of the Ј4million tournament.
Fiji's Vijay Singh, at seven under par, held a one-shot lead from Phil Mickelson with Westwood in a group of four on five under with Americans Zach Johnson and Sean O'Hair and Australian Peter Lonard.
Westwood, who will be playing with Johnson in the third-from-last pairing on Saturday, said he enjoyed the quicker greens having struggled at the Open Championship two weeks ago when he tied for 67th place.
"I've changed putters," Westwood said. "I've gone to a more traditional shaped one. I think that will be a little bit easier to use on these fast greens, it comes off it a little bit softer.
"It's a lot easier to putt here than I thought at Birkdale. Obviously at Birkdale the wind was blowing and the greens were a lot slower.
"If I was going to set up greens to not suit me, that's exactly how I would have set them up.
"I'm much happier on quicker greens where I can use a shorter stroke and keep it nice and slow and smooth."
While Westwood remains focused on the present and staying in contention, the man who mastered Royal Birkdale is already looking ahead to next week's US PGA Championship at Oakland Hills.
Padraig Harrington struggled in his second round, some wayward golf resulting in a two-birdie, seven-bogey 75 that left him at four over for the tournament.
"It's all about next week now," Harrington said.
"It's all about getting my chipping right out of the rough, going to do a bit of practise on that, and just getting myself into the mindset for next week.
"So I'm happy about having another two rounds, opportunities for that, but as far as that I'm not going to overdo things. There's no question I'm suffering a bit with fatigue."
Harrington admits retaining the Claret Jug has taken its toll on his game but Birkdale runner-up Ian Poulter said he was not suffering one bit from his best showing in a major.
"No, I'm not flat, I'm buzzing," Poulter said following a second-round 68 that leaves him at two under par.
"I was pretty refreshed. It was a long week off the week afterwards, so I'm just trying to get through the next two weeks as good as I possibly can and put myself in the Ryder Cup side. I'm still charging."
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