Golf: Tiger Woods on the charge in the Bahamas

Tiger Woods of the United States hits his tee shot on the 13th hole during round two of the Hero World Challenge at Albany, The Bahamas. Photo / Getty Images

Tiger Woods is on the charge at the Hero World Challenge as he steps up his return to action following a long lay-off.

Former world number one Woods, a 14-time major winner who has slid to 898th in the rankings, stumbled to an opening 73 Thursday to end a 466-day layoff, the longest idle spell of his career.

But things started to look a little more positive during his second round at the tournament in The Bahamas, as he sunk seven birdies in a round where he didn't drop a shot.

The former world No 1 played his second round alone, after Englishman Justin Rose pulled out of the tournament with a sore back before teeing off on Friday.

It didn't seem to bother him, though, as he sunk three birdies during the front nine of his second round on New Providence.

He turned three-under, before sinking four more birdies at 11, 12, 14 and 15 on the back nine.

In round one Woods came unstuck at 16 and 18, with double bogeys on both holes, but negotiated both in par during his second round to ensure he sits at six-under through 36 holes.

His effort left him six shots off early leader JB Holmes, with the rest of the field yet to complete their second rounds.

Despite the presence of a number of the sport's biggest names, Wood was the star attraction on day one of a tournament he himself has hosted since 1999.

His return to action has been much-hyped after previous plans to play at the Safeway Open and Turkish Open in recent months were abandoned.

Woods has had two back operations since last playing in August 2015, but was involved with the US Ryder Cup team which beat Europe 17-11 at Hazeltine in September.