ATLANTA — Tiger Woods had the lead and was ready to turn the Tour Championship into a runaway yesterday.

First came a 5-wood up the hill on the par-5 15th that narrowly cleared the bunker, hopped onto the green and rolled toward the flag until it stopped just over 4 feet away. On the next hole, Woods started walking before his shot began its descent to inside 4 feet.

There were so many fans around the 16th green that it was hard to read the video board showing Woods' PGA Tour ranking on putts between 4 and 5 feet. No one would have been surprised to see that Woods had only missed seven from that length all year.

This time, he missed them both.

Woods still wound up in the lead yesterday at East Lake with a 2-under 68, one shot ahead of Padraig Harrington and Sean O'Hair. Woods might have an even stronger grip on the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus.

He was fuming over the missed putts. He found perspective shortly after signing for his seventh consecutive round in the 60s.

"The day as a whole was a good day," Woods said. "I shot under par, and I got myself ... in the lead."

It couldn't have been that bad, not when all the attention was on two holes where he made a birdie and a par.

"Obviously, I didn't expect him to miss two in a row," Harrington said after a 69. "I looked up at the stats on the board just before he hit it, and he's No. 1 from that range. I don't think he misses two in a row all year. That's probably for sure he hasn't missed two in a row on the year. So it was a surprise."

Not so surprising was Woods in the lead, his 16th time this year to end a round atop the leaderboard. He was at 5-under 135 and in great position for the FedEx Cup. None of the other top five seeds, who can win the $10 million bonus with a victory at East Lake, was among the top 10 on the leaderboard going into the weekend.

Ernie Els came to life with five birdies over his last 10 holes for a 66 and was only two shots behind at 3-under 137. Kenny Perry, who nearly wilted in the heat Thursday, also had a 66 and was at 2-under 138, along with Jerry Kelly (67).

ELSEWHERE

CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge: Sophie Gustafson shot a 3-under 69 to take a one-stroke lead over Lorena Ochoa, Maria Hjorth and Shanshan Feng in the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge at Danville, Calif.

After opening with a 65 on Thursday, Gustafson missed three eagle putts and struggled with her touch on the greens yesterday at Blackhawk Country Club.

Gustafson, the Swede who won the last of her four career LPGA Tour victories in 2003, had a 10-under 134 total. The top-ranked Ochoa shot a 67, Hjorth had a 66 and Feng a 67.

SAS Championship: Russ Cochran and Denis Watson shot 6-under 66s in windy and wet conditions to share the first-round lead in the Champions Tour's SAS Championship at Cary, N.C.

Joey Sindelar, Larry Mize, R.W. Eaks, Dan Forsman, Jim Thorpe and Tom Pernice Jr., making his Champions Tour debut, opened with 67s on the Prestonwood course. Leonard Thompson shot a 74 in his 1,000 career start on the PGA and Champions tours.

Vivendi Trophy: Simon Dyson and Oliver Wilson beat Henrik Stenson and Alavaro Quiros 2 and 1 in fourball play to help Britain and Ireland take a 6-4 lead after two days in the Vivendi Trophy matches against Continental Europe at Saint-non-la-Breteche, France.

The Vivendi Trophy was created in 2000 and was formerly known as the Seve Trophy after Seve Ballesteros.