Woods rolls into the lead

ATLANTA - When the day's work was done, he came clean.

"I had a nice little roll there," said Tiger Woods.

And in other breaking news, Bill Gates reports having a few bucks in his savings account.

A nice little roll? Five straight birdies followed by an eagle easily qualifies as such. A six-hole stretch in which he needed but 17 strokes, five putts, and went 7 under? Woods may have seen it in casual terms, but Steve Stricker had another view of things.

"It was unbelievable, after a while, what he was doing," said Stricker, who shot 3-under-par 67 but must have felt like he had an 87 given the way his playing competitor was holing bunker shots and draining putts from 70 feet while tearing up the front side at East Lake Golf Club in the second round of the Tour Championship.

Indeed, the flurry of spectacular play that began at the par-4 fourth got Woods to the turn with his first-ever 28 and pushed him from three behind to four in front. Those were visions of 59 - or lower - floating in the humid air, only Woods denied seeing them. "You just play shot for shot," he said.

In the end, there were no such heroics, but thanks to an 18-foot birdie roll at the par-3 18th, Woods's workmanlike even-par 35 coming home gave him a 7-under 63 and pushed him to 13-under 127 and into a three-shot cushion over Woody Austin. It's a front-running position that favors Woods, since he's gone on to win 29 of the 35 times in which he's been the 36-hole leader, and, yes, Austin knows the program.

"He's just hard to catch," said Austin. "He's not hard to beat, if you're playing as well and you're right there, but he's hard to catch."

A curious comment, considering that Woods has triumphed six times already this season, including in last month's PGA Championship when he held off, among others, Austin. When asked how he translated Austin's comment, Woods looked stunned, then laughed and shook his head.

"I don't know how to answer that," said Woods.

What he did know how to answer was the challenge of an East Lake layout the likes of which he and his mates have never seen - that is, one that is waterlogged and in possession of 18 Velcro greens, their softness and slowness due to a combination of factors. Burned out by torrid August heat, they were reseeded and resodded several weeks ago and now they've been battered by two days of torrential rain.

Just how soft are they?

"I've had three balls that have been pretty much embedded," said Mark Calcavecchia, who shot 66 and moved into a share of third with defending champion Adam Scott (66) and first-round leader Tim Clark (69), four shots back at 9-under 131.

Now, embedded balls are common in fairways and in muddy areas, but on the greens?

"We've never seen it like this, where you could be this aggressive," said Woods, whose day had started with seven holes in the morning to close out a first-round 64. By day's end, he had played 25 holes in 9 under (10 birdies, 1 eagle, 3 bogeys), but it was one six-hole stretch that gave the fans something to rally around and his colleagues something to ponder.

"[I was] trying to figure out which holes he parred, actually," said Calcavecchia, who was told that Woods had started his second round with three straight pars. He nodded. "I was kind of hoping he'd shoot 59, just for interest's sake."

Back-to-back pars to start his back nine, followed by a bogey at the par-4 12th when he was wild right with his drive and could only muscle his second shot into a greenside bunker, pretty much ended any thoughts of that Woods magic, but still, those in pursuit could only marvel.

"That's pretty impressive," said Scott. "Luckily for all of us, he kind of slowed down a little bit and kept a tournament of it."

Certainly, there are those who believe there is still a hunt - Austin chief among them. Having stalked Woods unsuccessfully at the PGA, the three-time Tour winner relishes another opportunity.

"I like being in the arena [with Woods]," said Austin. "His arena is very electric. I've got to do some pretty good playing on the weekend to catch him."

Difficult as that will be for Austin, it figures to be a closer battle than the tournament-within-a-tournament here at East Lake, the race for the FedEx Cup. Barring an unprecedented collapse, Woods has put that $10 million prize under lock and key, for his only true competition lags well behind. Stricker, second in the standings, is nine shots back, tied for 16th at 4-under 136; No. 3 Phil Mickelson shot 66 -134, but he's joint 12th and a healthy seven back.

Not that Woods is counting any of the FedEx Cup money yet. Heck, he couldn't even count his shots over the first nine holes.

"I didn't know I shot 28 on the front nine," he said, though he didn't deny that it came in dramatic fashion. The 8-foot birdie at the fourth was routine, but after an approach into a greenside bunker at the 520-yard, par-4 fifth, he'd have settled for par. Instead, he holed it from 63 feet, much to his shock.

"By the crowd's reaction, I thought it came screaming in there and hit the flagstick," said Woods. "I got up there and it was gone. Nice surprise."

Surprise, surprise you might say of the proceedings at the ninth, because after birdie putts of 13, 11, and 6 feet at Nos. 6-8, Woods was trying to coax a two-putt birdie from 70 feet at the 600-yard ninth. He failed, but the one-putt eagle was acceptable.

"Pure luck," said Woods, now 13 under and in command. He hung his head and could only laugh - and laugh some more. "The ball was bouncing every which way . . . and then it went in."

It was further evidence of what he has said all week when asked about a tournament on such new and soft greens. "When you have bad greens, you can hit bad putts that go in," said Woods, who has also suggested that caution is not part of the game plan this week. Take aim and fire at flagsticks, each and every one.

"You just can't make pars," said Woods, and for proof, consider Rory Sabbatini. He's played two days without a bogey - yet he sits nine shots back, sequestered in a tie for 16th at 4-under 136.

That would seem to play into Calcavecchia's game, being one of the great flagstick-seekers of his generation. He's won tournaments at 28 under and 27 under and shares the PGA Tour record for most birdies in a 72-hole event (32), so with 26 of 30 players in red numbers, the field average at 67.667, and eagles and birdies (257) outnumbering bogeys (115) by more than 2-1, he would seem to be in his element - except for a certain dominating force.

"But I noticed he made a bogey. I think he's losing it," said Calcavecchia with a laugh, because he knew what would probably come - and indeed it arrived. Woods answered that bogey at the 12th with a birdie at the par-5 15th, then he offset a bogey at the par-4 16th with that birdie at 18 to restore a three-shot cushion.

"A pretty good day," offered Woods.

Call it a matching bookend to his nice little roll.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.