Haas leads as Woods makes his move

Veteran Jay Haas edged closer to his first PGA Tour win for more than 10 years on Friday with a four-under-par 66 for the halfway lead at the Tour Championship.

The 50-year-old, the oldest player in the field at the East Lake Golf Club, moved to seven under for the tournament with three birdies and a chip-in eagle on the par-five ninth.

Canadian Stephen Ames is alone in second place at five under after a four-under-par 66 while Tiger Woods lurked a further shot back after a superb six-under-par 64 -- his best round since February at the Nissan Open.

Level with Woods is South African Retief Goosen who shot a 66. Canadian Mike Weir and first round co-leader Jerry Kelly are tied for fifth at two under, four shots off the lead.

World number one Vijay Singh, attempting to win 10 events in a single season, struggled to a three-over-par 73 which included six bogeys and he finds himself eight shots back of Haas.

Starting out with a bogey when he went from one bunker to another, Haas did almost everything right on the remaining 17 holes including making a birdie on the 235-yard 18th hole.

"To shoot two-under on that front nine after starting off with a bogey like I did was a nice boost and kind of got me right there with the lead," said Haas, who continued a renaissance that began in 2003 when he lost in a playoff at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic to Canadian Mike Weir.

Prior to that Haas had floundered in PGA Tour mediocrity and had not been in the top 30 on the money list since 1995.

From the beginning of 2003 through 2004 Haas has recorded two runner-up finishes, a third and 15 top 10 finishes, earned more than $4 million and has played on both Ryder and President's Cup teams.

"I guess in a condensed version, I would say I think I've had a successful career but I'm not satisfied," Haas said.

"I never have been satisfied at any time, other than when you win a tournament that week, then you pretty much did what you wanted to accomplish."

With two rounds to go here and with so many big names in the mix Haas knows he still has a lot to do to end his 11-year wait for a victory.

"I guess as I look at the leaderboard and see the pages click off and see the guys that are back there, I can't allow myself to think "what if?"" Haas said. "I just have to think about how to hit this drive on the first hole tomorrow."

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