Woods charges to top

Actually, the mutual respect they share is rooted in many of the same traits: competitiveness, tenacity, the decision to change when the results say so much is going right. They’ve also enjoyed their share of success, so it’s no surprise they’re at the top of the leaderboard halfway through the Tour Championship.

Tied for second at the start of the second round - and playing in the same twosome - Woods shot a 2-under-par 68 yesterday, Harrington a 69. Coupled with Sean O’Hair’s 70, it left Woods a stroke in front of both as the 30-man field chases the biggest payday in golf, with $10 million going to the winner of the FedEx Cup and $1.35 million to the tournament champion. If Woods wins, he’ll snag both. But Harrington might be standing in his way.

“We’ve basically played our careers simultaneously. We played the Walker Cup against each other and turned pro about the same time,’’ Woods said. “We’ve been out here for just as long. It was a matter of time before he won some big events, and lo and behold, he’s won three major championships.

“Certainly he’s put the work in to accomplish that, which is something that we all respect about him.’’

Harrington said it’s taken some time to get accustomed to a Woods pairing, but he now craves it, for a variety of reasons.

“It’s always best to be playing and watching the one guy. The key for me is to make sure I push Tiger to be a better player,’’ Harrington said. “You know you’re going to be in contention and you know you’re going to have a chance of winning the tournament the more you play with Tiger.’’

But what about the noise and distractions? “You’d be amazed. When there’s a lot going on, you see nothing. When there’s very little going on, you see a lot,’’ said Harrington, who has no wins this year but is riding a streak of five consecutive top-10 finishes. “So it’s a lot better when there’s a big crowd there. You get into it. I’ve always found it easier to play in a noisy environment than a quiet one. So no, there’s no distraction, not at all.’’

He’s certainly used to the scene. Today will mark the eighth round that Woods and Harrington have been paired this season on the PGA Tour.

Woods’s lead would have been greater than one stroke had he not missed a few chances coming in. Woods ranks first on Tour this season on putts inside 10 feet, but he missed three of them yesterday, including a 5-footer for par on No. 15, and a 5-footer for birdie on the 16th. Throw in a bogey when he short-sided himself on the home hole, then flubbed a chip, and it’s easy to see how the one-shot lead could be three or even four.

“[Yesterday’s] round probably could have been one or two better, for sure,’’ Woods said. “But overall I’m very pleased with my scoring the first two days.’’

O’Hair started slowly, making 12 pars and two bogeys over his first 14 holes to fall out of the lead. But he rallied down the stretch, making short birdie putts on Nos. 15 and 16, then holing a 20-footer for par on the 17th after he chunked his chip. Out of the lead, but definitely not out of the tournament.

“I can’t control what Tiger does, I can’t control what Padraig does. The only person I can control is me,’’ O’Hair said. “My game plan is just to go out there this weekend with a game plan and execute it. That’s all I can do.’’

Ernie Els joined the party, shooting a 4-under 66 to move from a tie for 16th to solo fourth, two shots behind. Els birdied five of his final 11 holes, against no dropped shots.

“I’ve felt my swing was good ever since I got here,’’ said Els, also looking for his first Tour win this year. “If I can keep it up, I might have a chance actually [tomorrow]. You never know.’’

Hometown favorite Stewart Cink was tied for the lead on the 10th tee, but pumped two tee balls out of bounds and made a quadruple-bogey 8. Cink’s first drive one-hopped the fence surrounding the property, and his second effort cleared it on the fly. The big number dropped Cink from a tie for first to a tie for seventh, but he recovered nicely from there, playing the final eight holes even par. He’s tied for seventh, four shots behind.

Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer@globe.com