Woods Charges Into Lead After 67

Tiger Woods shot a course-record five-under 67 Thursday to take a three-stroke lead after two rounds of the NCAA men’s golf championships.

The Stanford sophomore from Cypress birdied three straight holes on the back nine in bettering the course record of 68, which was tied on Wednesday by Arizona State’s Pat Perez. Woods has a two-day total of eight-under 136 on the 7,039-yard, par-72 Honors Course near Chattanooga.

Brad Elder of Texas shot 68 and is three strokes back of Woods.

Rory Sabbatini of Arizona shot a second straight 70 and is at four-under. Perez posted a 74 and was two-under par. UNLV’s Chris Wiley, with a 73, Tim Turpen of Tennessee with a 71, and Grant Masson of Oklahoma, with a 74, were at even par.

Woods had seven birdies and two bogeys in his record round on a course that puts a premium on accuracy and patience.

“I’m feeling good with my game. I know where I’m missing it, which is nice,” said Woods, the two-time defending U.S. Amateur champion. “I’m playing extremely smart out there, which you have to do on this course.”

On a day when drying greens and a swirling breeze made the course play tougher than in the first round and sent scores considerably higher, Woods said his lead is far from safe.

“It’s way too early, only halfway,” he said. “It’s hard out there. Look at the scores. Half the guys are shooting in the 80s.”

Arizona State ballooned to 12-over Thursday--14 strokes over its score of Wednesday--but maintained a one-stroke lead over UNLV in the team competition. The Sun Devils suffered a two-stroke penalty on Scott Johnson for slow play.

“It was a combination of misinformation and miscues, and because of that he was penalized, which I didn’t think he should have been,” said Arizona State Coach Randy Lein. “We’ll rebound from this tomorrow.”

Lein said even with a 10-stroke lead on the third-place teams, Florida and Stanford, the team event wasn’t yet a two-team race between the Sun Devils and UNLV.

“This is a course where it could change,” he said. “Look at Texas. They’ve got a very good team and shot 19-over today.”

The field was cut to the low 15 teams after Thursday’s round, plus the nine low individuals not on any of those teams. The team cut was 30-over par.