Woods pulls five shots clear of field

How good was it?

Well, the stroke average for the field during the second round of the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship was a whopping 74.069 on the par-70 Crabapple Course.

That's a fraction more over par than the 66 Tiger Woods shot Friday was under. What's more, the round of 4 under gave him a five-stroke lead over Rocco Mediate, K.J. Choi, Sergio Garcia and Tim Herron in the chase for shares of the $6 million purse.

"A 66 today was just silly," Mediate said, shaking his head. "That's a hell of a score."

Tom Fazio's young layout was unyielding on Friday, stubbornly refusing to bow down to the game's best players. Only five players managed to break par after 12 had on Thursday, and only six remained in red numbers for 36 holes.

The stroke average was the sixth highest on the PGA Tour this year -- and the other five came in major championships.

"It's fun to play a tournament where you have to play like this," said Woods, a man with eight major championships and seven World Golf Championships titles among the 38 victories he owns. "We don't get a chance to do this very often.

"It's just enjoyable to go out there and get rewarded for shooting a round under par. Normally you shoot a round under par, you could get lapped. But here you're definitely going to move up."

Woods has now shot par or better in 32 of the 34 rounds he's played in World Golf Championships events. All but eight of those have been in the 60s, too.. The last time he failed to break par in the series was during the final round of the 1999 NEC Invitational.

To say Woods has risen to the occasion would be something of an understatement.

"I thoroughly enjoy playing against the best players in the world," he said. "I think that's what makes these World Golf Championships so much fun is you get a chance to basically buck heads against the best."

Woods doesn't make it much fun for the rest of them, though. He has led or shared the lead at the midway point of a tournament 22 times in his career and won 19 times, including the last 17 straight.

As a frontrunner, Woods is unparalleled.

"No one has ever done it like him," Mediate said. "My opinion is he trusts himself so much, trusts his ability so much more than anyone else, that's why he can do it. …"

But if Woods keeps doing what he does best, Mediate knows he and the rest of the field will be hard-pressed to have any say in the outcome. Keeping pace with the No. 1 player in the game on Saturday will be crucial.

"If he goes out and does something crazy like he's capable of doing, it's going to kind of a joke on Sunday," Mediate said. "It he shoots four or five under, which could happen, it's hard to make up that much ground. But if someone goes out and shoots four or five under, three or four under, and he shoots even, then it's going to be a closer match."

Woods has five strokes to "play with" as he puts it, and it's hard to shake the feeling that he's toying with the rest of the field in the process. After making three bogeys Friday, he knows he might need the cushion -- but after seven birdies, Woods also has the confidence he can turn things around in a hurry.

"When you're in this position, especially on this golf course, that can go away pretty quickly," he said. "I'm just going to try and do the same things tomorrow, and just try and go out there and really be as patient as I can."

Woods played his first nine holes in 31, which oddly enough gave Mediate the confidence to turn his own round around. He had been on the proverbial bogey train, making five in a seven-hole stretch on the front side, when he stopped the bleeding and chipped in for birdie at the ninth hole.

"I looked up at the leaderboard and I said, "He did it. So can I," Mediate said. "I can do this. I can get back in there."

Mediate went on to birdie his next three holes, getting back to 4 under for the tournament. Even though he couldn't finish it off, shooting a 72, Mediate will enter the third round with optimism.

"It's like I said, he pushes you, pushes you, pushes you," Mediate said of Woods. "Front nine I hit a couple of marginal shots and I was toast, which is the way it is here. …

"If this was a normal golf course, I would be disappointed. But I'm not really that disappointed. I didn't really play that badly. I had my chances."

A win come Sunday would not only boost his World Golf Championships earnings near $10 million, it would probably make Woods the favorite for the PGA Tour Player of the Year Award. He currently ranks third behind Vijay Singh and Davis Love III on the money list for the $1.05 million first prize could reverse that situation.

"I would have more wins than anybody else on Tour, and I would be ahead on the money list," said Woods, who has won the last six money titles and the last five Player of the Year trophies. "It all depends on what Vijay does, obviously, but I think, yeah, with a few tournaments to go, I'm sure I would have a sight edge."

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