ATLANTA -- Tiger Woods may be on the verge of another of golf's hallowed records.
After starting his second round at the Tour Championship with three straight pars, Woods went on a stellar barrage that gave him a front-nine 7-under 28. After sinking a 9-foot putt on the par-4 fourth hole, Woods found himself in a bunker on No. 5, short of the green and well below it. He hit his bunker shot and walked away, never seeing his ball go into the hole. The raucous crowd told him everything he needed to know. The world's top-ranked player and FedEx Cup leader then followed with birdie putts of 13, 11 and 7 feet on the next three holes. He reached the 600-yard par-5 ninth hole in two, then drained a 70-foot eagle putt, hiding his face in his hands before emerging with a wide grin as he moved to 13-under for the tournament, five strokes clear of the nearest competitor. Woods has since opened with a pair of pars on the back nine, retaining a three-stroke lead over Woody Austin. Only three players have recorded a 59 in PGA Tour competition. Al Geiberger was the first to do so at the 1977 Memphis Classic, followed Chip Beck at the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational and David Duval at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic. East Lake Golf Club is a par-70 venue, meaning Woods needs to shoot 5-under 30 on the back nine to break the all-time record and 31 to match it. Woods' previous longest streak of birdies and eagles in a PGA Tour event was seven in a row. The tour record is eight, held by Billy Mayfair at the 2001 Buick Open and Briny Baird at the 2003 Funai Classic. After finishing his first-round 64 this morning (he had seven holes left to complete after darkness suspended play on Thursday), Woods said, "I shot a good score this morning, went out there and shot under par this morning, which I wanted to do. We'll head back out in, I guess about an hour and a half and let's go." Jason Sobel is ESPN.com's golf editor. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn3.comSource: ESPN.com
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