SAN MARTIN, Calif. – The fog finally lifted at CordeValle and revealed a Tiger Woods that looked vaguely familiar.

Woods ran off three straight birdies early in his round, survived a rough patch around the turn and kept the stress to a minimum Friday in his round of 3-under 68 in the Frys.com Open that assured he would be around for the weekend.

“I don’t like missing cuts, period,” Woods said. “If I miss the cut, that means you can’t win the tournament on the weekend. I’ve got a shot at it this weekend.”

He still was seven shots behind Paul Casey, who is making a revival of his own.

Casey, at No. 135 on the money list and in danger of losing his PGA Tour card, has been fighting a foot injury since the middle of May. He showed signs of getting better by winning in South Korea last week, and then he got over jet lag in time to post a 7-under 64.

That put him at 8-under 134. Bud Cauley, who turned pro this summer and is trying to avoid having to go to Q-school, had a 66 and was one shot behind. Fog delayed the start of the second round by 2 hours, 20 minutes, meaning it would not finish until today.

Woods was so disgusted at his putting after his opening 73 that he went to the practice green in the chill of late afternoon after the first round and rapped 5-foot putts, sometimes using only one hand.

He also put two strips of lead tape on the bottom of his putter, and it seemed to pay off. He holed a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 14 to begin his run of three straight birdies, and all but one of his birdie putts looked to have a chance.

“I hit one bad putt today, and that was it,” Woods said. “Every other putt was on line.”

It was the first time since the Masters that Woods made a 36-hole cut, and the first time in two months that he broke par. That speaks only to the kind of stop-and-start year he has had, missing three months this summer to let injuries to his left leg fully heal, and missing the last seven weeks when he failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Casey came up just short of the green on the par-5 15th and then rolled in birdie putts of 40 feet and 25 feet on the next two holes before finishing the back nine with a shot into 12 feet on the 18th. He added a pair of birdies on the front nine to put himself atop the leaderboard and raise his hopes going into the weekend.

“To be honest, it’s probably the best I’ve hit the golf ball all year,” Casey said.

LPGA: Yani Tseng lived up to her top-ranked billing with a 7-under 65 to take the lead after the first round of the LPGA Hana Bank Championship in Incheon, South Korea.

The world No. 1 had 10 birdies and three bogeys to take a one-stroke lead over Chella Choi, who set the early pace at 6 under.

Two-time defending champion Na Yeon Choi was in a tie for third place along with Sandra Gal of Germany at 5 under.

CHAMPIONS: Michael Allen shot a 9-under 63 to take a three-stroke lead over John Cook after the first round of the Champions Tour’s Insperity Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Allen, the 2009 Senior PGA Championship winner, had nine birdies in his bogey-free round at The Woodlands Country Club. Cook, a three-time winner this year, also had a bogey-free round.

EUROPEAN: English golfer Lee Slattery shot a 6-under 66 to lead the Madrid Masters by one shot after the second round in Madrid. He leads Spaniard Eduardo de la Riva and Italian Ryder Cup player Francesco Molinari.