Following a Saturday 65 at East Lake, Tiger Woods will take a three-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose into the final round of the Tour Championship.
Woods, 12 under for the week, will be paired with McIlroy in the final round on Sunday, as he hunts his 80th PGA Tour victory and his first win in five years.
The 14-time major winner ran away from the field early, making birdie on six of his first seven holes to go ahead by as many as five.
Woods immediately claimed the outright lead with a birdie at No. 1, whipping the Atlanta crowd into an early frenzy.
Tiger Woods.
Birdie putt.
Book it.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/Y2KQxXlkPZ— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2018
Following a 4-foot par save at the second, Woods moved ahead by two and reached 9 under par when he played this approach from 144 yards and sank this 8-footer for birdie at the third.
Another birdie for @TigerWoods.
Is this the week?
He leads by 2 @PlayoffFinale.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/IbDeQMfhXy
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2018
One hole later, Woods reached double digits at 10 under par when he poured in a bending 21-footer that just crept over the lip.
-3 thru 4 holes.@TigerWoods is on fire.
He extends his lead to 3.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/AEAjxkPADj
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2018
He made it four birdies in his first five holes when he bombed a 320-yard drive, wedged to 7 feet, and converted again.
3-3-3-3-3 start for @TigerWoods.
He leads by FOUR.
“It is an absolute clinic.”#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/I12wf5ksp5
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2018
He looked in danger of not capitalizing on his first crack at a par-5 after he came out of a fairway wood on his second shot, but a splash from the bunker and a make from 6 feet gave him his fifth circle in six holes.
The lead is back to four.@TigerWoods is -5 thru 6.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/ISZu6Tp0ZU
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2018
He went Vintage Tiger at the seventh, playing this fairway bunker shot from 172 yards to 5 feet, setting up his sixth birdie in his first seven holes and advancing him to 13 under, five clear.
This is not a drill.@TigerWoods is -6 thru 7.
He leads by 5 @PlayoffFinale.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/uj9Gice8fD
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2018
Looking to make the turn in 29, Woods instead missed the green at the par-3 ninth, failed to get up and down for par, and had to settle for 5-under 30.
Following pars at 10 and 11, he started looking this approach up and down at the 12th, leading to his seventh birdie of the day.
Seventh birdie in 12 holes.@TigerWoods leads by four.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/UNbJtaEg7S
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2018
Woods saw his lead decrease from five to three when he bogeyed the par-4 16th and Rose birdied. Woods missed the fairway and green and then failed to pull off an aggressive flop shot up a steep slope.
A rough lie leads to bogey.
The lead is 4 for Tiger Woods. pic.twitter.com/92M3qu98Cq
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 22, 2018
Woods looked in position to pick up one more stroke at the par-5 18th, but proved unable to get up and down for birdie from the back bunker. Instead, he wrapped up a closing par and back-nine 35.
