WOODSTOCK (Georgia), Oct 4: Tiger Woods charged into a five-shot lead after the second round of the WGC-American Express Championship with a four-under-par 66 on Friday.

Woods, on seven-under 133 for the championship, carded the lowest round of the day and was one of only five players who broke par at the Capital City Club’s Crabgrass Course.

South Korea’s K.J. Choi, Rocco Mediate, Tim Herron and Spain’s Sergio Garcia, the first-round leader, share second place on 138.

Australian Stuart Appleby, who had the day’s second-best score of 68, and Spain’s Ignacio Garrido are tied for sixth on 139.

The world number one’s round was the type of overpowering display he has become famous for but has been lacking in 2003.

His seven-birdie, three-bogey performance surpassed the field’s average of 74.069 by eight strokes.

Woods, who began the day two strokes off the lead, has a record of 19 wins in 23 attempts when he has the lead through 36 holes.

Woods rarely butted heads with anyone during the second round, but made a dramatic impact on the tournament when he shot a four-under-par 31 on the front nine, with five birdies and a bogey to move from three-under to seven-under.

Not that Friday was an easy day on the course, either.

The wind was swirling, the fairways were hard and fast and rounds were taking five hours to complete.

With 36 holes to play Woods is one of only seven players under par for the championship.

A victory here would give Woods his fifth PGA Tour title in a season that has been a bit of a disappointment in that he failed to win a major for the first time since 1998.

Woods still has a chance to win the PGA Tour Player of the Year award and the money title.

Mediate used Woods’ surge on the front nine to get himself back into the tournament.

Starting the day only one back of Garcia’s five-under score, Mediate went out and shot a three-over-par 38 on the front nine, with birdies on the first and ninth holes.

On the ninth Mediate chipped in from 74 feet.

He made three more birdies in a row to get to four-under, but two late bogeys brought him back to two-under.

Mediate and the rest of the field know that Woods is almost unbeatable when he has the lead, but with the difficulty of the course he also knows that the leader can come back to the field.

Leading second round scores (US unless stated):

133 — Tiger Woods 67, 66.

138 — K.J. Choi (South Korea) 67, 71; Sergio Garcia (Spain) 65, 73; Tim Herron 66, 72; Rocco Mediate 66, 72.

139 — Stuart Appleby (Australia) 71, 68; Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 68, 71.

140 — Vijay Singh (Fiji) 70, 70.

142 — Retief Goosen (South Africa) 73, 69; Jonathan Kaye 73, 69; Jerry Kelly 70, 72; Mike Weir (Canada) 69, 73.

143 — Lee Westwood (Britain) 72, 71; Adam Scott (Australia) 70, 73; Peter O’Malley (Australia) 69, 74.

144 — Justin Rose (Britain) 75, 69; Paul Casey (Britain) 73, 71; Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 71, 73; Fred Couples 71, 73; Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 71, 73; Jim Furyk 70, 74; Toshi Izawa (Japan) 70, 74; Len Mattiace 70, 74; Kenny Perry 70, 74; Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 68, 76; Loren Roberts 69, 75.

145 — Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 73, 72; David Toms 73, 72; Ernie Els (South Africa) 71, 74.

146 — Brad Faxon 75, 71; Kirk Triplett 74, 72; Jay Haas 74, 72; Eduardo Romero (Argentina) 72, 74; J.L. Lewis 72, 74; Steve Flesch 71, 75; Alex Cejka (Germany) 70, 76; Jyoti Randhawa (India) 69, 77.

147 — Chris Riley 74, 73; Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 74, 73; Fred Funk 73, 74; Ian Poulter (Britain) 73, 74; Shaun Micheel 72, 75; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 70, 77.

148 — Craig Parry (Australia) 76, 72; Arjun Atwal (India) 76, 72; Robert Allenby (Australia) 72, 76; Alastair Forsyth (Britain) 71, 77; Brian Davis (Britain) 71, 77.

HUSTON AHEAD

MADISON (Mississippi): John Huston shot a second-straight six-under-par 66 to move clear of the field at the $3 million Southern Farm Bureau Classic on Friday.

Huston stands on 12-under-par 132 and heads first-round co-leader Hidemichi Tanaka (68) of Japan by two strokes.

South Africa’s Tim Clark (66) and Chris Anderson (66) are tied for third at nine-under 135.

Britain’s Luke Donald (67), the defending champion, Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama (68) and Paul Stankowski (68) are tied for fifth at eight-under 136.

Carlos Franco of Paraguay, who led overnight with Huston and Tanaka, shot an even-par 72 to fall into a tie for 13th.

Leading second round scores:

132 — John Huston 66, 66.

134 — Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan) 66, 68.

135 — Chris M Anderson 69, 66; Tim Clark 69, 66.

136 — Luke Donald (Britain) 69, 67; Paul Stankowski 68, 68; Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 68, 68.

137 — Willie Wood 71, 66; David Frost (South Africa) 68, 69; Jim McGovern 68, 69; Corey Pavin 69, 68; Brett Quigley 68, 69.

138 — Paul Gow (Australia) 70, 68; Jose Coceres (Argentina) 71, 67; Carlos Franco (Paraguay) 66, 72; Kent Jones 68, 70; Woody Austin 71, 67; John Morgan 73, 65.

139 — Ben Crane 70, 69; Tom Scherrer 72, 67; Joey Sindelar 69, 70; Dave Stockton Jr 71, 68; Bart Bryant 69, 70; Billy Andrade 71, 68; Joe Durant 72, 67; David Edwards 67, 72.—Reuters