Tiger Woods enjoyed a much-improved day with the putter as he surged up the leaderboard at the Quicken Loans National on Friday.

After salvaging an even-par 70 in round one with two late birdies, Woods kept his foot on the pedal with a five-under 65 as part of the morning wave in round two.

The 14-time major-winner is using a new mallet putter this week and spoke positively about his efforts on the greens after day one, despite struggling to hole many putts.

It was a different story on Friday, Woods making seven birdies as he moved to within four strokes of the lead by the end of his round.

"As I said, I wasn't disappointed with the way I putted yesterday and this was just a continuation of it," Woods told reporters.

"I felt like I could see the lines, the ball was starting on my line, and they went in.

"All day yesterday I hit good putts, I started the ball on the right line with the right speed and they just didn't go in - so what? 

"If I can just continue doing that, which I haven't done in probably about four tournaments, they're going to start falling. And today they fell."

The highlight of Woods' round came at the 18th, his ninth hole of the day, when he chipped in for birdie to ensure the putter was not needed.