Woods’ Game Is in Overdrive

Tiger Woods drove the green on two 370-yard-plus par fours. His seven-under-par 66 was eight shots better than the average score Friday. He wound up with a four-shot lead halfway home to his fifth consecutive PGA Tour victory.

After watching yet another remarkable display by the No. 1 player in the world, Ernie Els had only one explanation after the second round of the Mercedes Championship.

“The guy is kind of a freak, you know what I mean?” Els said.

No one since Ben Hogan in 1953 has posted five consecutive victories, and Woods used Hogan-like precision to make a wind-ravaged Plantation Course at Kapalua look like a pitch-and-putt.

With birdies on five of the last seven holes, Woods finished two rounds at nine-under 137, four shots ahead of Els, who had a three-under 70.

First-round leader Jesper Parnevik made two more double bogeys on the back nine and finished with a 74, five shots back at 143. Jeff Sluman had a 72 and was at 144.

“Tiger . . . this guy is on fire,” Els said. “He’s got all the talent in the world. What can you do? You’ve just got to stick to your guns. But he’s got bigger guns than I have.”

How big?

Woods seized control of the tournament with a tee shot that bounded onto the green on the 373-yard 12th hole, just past the left foot of Jim Furyk as he was lining up his putt.

Earlier, on the 398-yard sixth hole, Woods’ tee shot sailed over a bunker in the middle of the fairway, caught the downslope and stopped 50 feet from the pin. Woods had four eagle putts in his round.

Parnevik stayed with Woods for much of the round, but he didn’t drive the green on any par fours. In fact, the Swede hit his tee shot on No. 12 in the same shrubs that led to double bogey in the first round.

Notah Begay, a teammate of Woods’ at Stanford, also made a run until he took a triple bogey and a quadruple bogey on the back nine, going from three shots off the lead to 11 behind in the span of two holes.

Golf Notes

Rick Acton, a 27-year member of the Professional Golf Assn. who played in nine PGA Championships and four U.S. Opens, has died of liver cancer in Redmond, Wash. He was 54. Acton was head pro at Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, site of the 1998 PGA Championship, from 1984-96.