Henrik Stenson leads by four at Tour Championship

ATLANTA — Henrik Stenson broke another club Friday — this time by accident.

And it didn’t matter.

Playing with only 13 clubs in the bag after his four-wood broke on the practice range, Stenson made three birdies on the opening four holes at East Lake to quickly seize control and shot a four-under-par 66 to build a four-shot lead over Adam Scott in the Tour Championship.

For all his birdies, the best move he made all week was deciding to put the four-wood in his locker instead of carrying it with him.

Stenson heard a funny sound after hitting five shots on the range, showed it to Steve Stricker and realized the face had caved in. A television viewer who heard about the incident called the PGA Tour to see if the Swede had kept it in his bag, and officials checked with Stenson after his round.

If he had left it in the bag without using it, Stenson would have been assessed a four-shot penalty for carrying a non-conforming club — the margin of his lead. If he had used the club, he would have been disqualified. Stenson had no intention of using it, though sending it to his locker saved him.

Stenson, who smashed his driver last week in the last round of the BMW Championship, was at 10-under 130 going into the third round and might be playing a course far less firm Saturday. The forecast is for rain most of the day, and the starting times have been moved up to the morning in hopes of getting it in.

Tiger Woods is not in position to halt the hottest player in golf. Woods was headed toward the best round of the day, five under through 13 holes, when he made double bogey on the 14th, had a triple bogey on the 17th and wound up with a 71. He was 14 shots behind. It was the first time since the 2011 PGA Championship that Woods began a tournament with back-to-back rounds over par.

“I put everything I had into that start and didn’t have much at the end,” Woods said. “Just ran out of gas.”

Scott sputtered at the start. He was one shot behind Stenson and quickly fell five shots behind with a couple of poor tee shots. Scott played the last 14 holes without a bogey and wound up with a 69 that put him at six-under 134.

Jordan Spieth, the 20-year-old rookie, had a 67 and was five shots behind. U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson and Billy Horschel were another shot back.