Tiger slips back after one-over-par 71 at Firestone
Woods, playing his first event in three months after being troubled by knee and Achilles problems, started on the 10th tee and all was well until sloppy play on the 14th and 15th cost him a pair of bogeys.
But Woods hit back in typical fashion by hitting approach shots to 10 and six feet on the next two holes to set up birdie opportunities he duly took to go back to two under.
His back nine followed a similar pattern as he dropped a shot on the par-4 fourth but immediately retrieved it with a birdie on the fifth.
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A double bogey on the par-4 sixth, where he fluffed his recovery from a green side bunker, saw him back to level par, but Woods showed his fighting qualities with his fourth birdie of the round at the next.
He parred home to finish on one-under 139 at halfway.
Woods has won the tournament in Akron seven times, but will have ground to make up on the halfway leaders, who were first round leader Adam Scott and Americans Rickie Fowler, Ryan Moore and Keegan Bradley.
Australia's Scott, employing Woods's discarded caddie Steve Williams on his bag, carded a level-par 70 for eight-under 132, dropping a shot at the last.
Earlier, young hopeful Fowler shot a superb six-under 64, while Moore had a 66 to also go to eight-under after two rounds. Bradley joined them with a 65 in the afternoon.
Swede Robert Karlsson, Jason Day of Australian and Scotland's Martin Laird are a shot further back on seven-under-par.
U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy is also in contention after a second successive 68 for four-under 136.
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