WOODS HAS JOINT LEAD WITH RORY IN PURSUIT
NOT even one bad hole could keep Tiger Woods from a share of the 36-hole lead for the first time in more than five years. Woods was on the verge of building a cushion yesterday in the Tour Championship with three birdies in a four-hole stretch, only to make double bogey from the rough and a plugged lie in the bunker that forced him to play away from the hole at No16. He finished with a two-putt birdie for a 2-under 68 to tie Justin Rose (67) going into the weekend at East Lake. Woods last shared the 36-hole lead in the 2015 Wyndham. He wound up tied for 10th. Rory McIlroy made enough birdies to offset his mistakes and had a 68, to leave him two back from the leaders. Two birdies inside the first three holes got the Northern Ireland man off to a flyer, but he bogeyed the par four. Another birdie on the eigth got McIlroy to the turn on two under, but he then dropped two more shots on the 12th and 14th holes before a spirited finish left him right back in contention. A birdie on the par three 15th and another on the second last hole of the day means that McIlroy and Woods will be staring hard at one another over the weekend, in preparation for further toe-to-toe combat in France next week in the Ryder Cup.