Gary Woodland believes maintaining his aggressive mindset will be vital to his hopes of victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Successive 67s have moved the 34-year-old to 12-under, three shots clear of the trio of Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy and Kevin Tway, while Marc Leishman is a further stroke back.
This is only the third time Woodland has played at Kapalua, with the tournament only open to those who won on the PGA Tour in the previous year.
Woodland admits he has previously seen the event in Hawaii as a chance to build momentum for the new season, rather than an opportunity to compete.
However, this time around the 2018 Waste Management Open winner says he has prepared differently and feels the aggression and confidence he has shown over the opening two rounds will stand him in good stead over the weekend.
“I’ve had that (relaxed) mindset a couple times that I’ve been here, not prepared, excited to be here, taken some time off before the last two times I was here,” Woodland said.
“But this time I’ve been playing a lot. Obviously it’s nice to be here, but I have a little different mindset this week, playing a little more aggressive, trying to contend, and trying to win instead of just enjoying the views out here, which I’ve done in the past.”
Further down the leaderboard, reigning champion Dustin Johnson is five-under-par, while world number one Brooks Koepka has work to do heading into the weekend, currently sitting 12 shots off the pace.
