Scott stays out of trouble with a 67

Adam Scott didn’t have much of a chance the last time he was in contention, six shots behind Tiger Woods going into the fourth round of the American Express Championship.

But he noticed that day how Woods finished off tournaments, and realized that he needed to do a better job himself.

His next opportunity has come at the final PGA Tour event of the year.

Scott kept himself in the short grass and out of trouble Friday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, giving him a three-under-par 67 and a share of the lead with Joe Durant (68) at the Tour Championship.

“You look at how Tiger closes out the deal when he’s in contention, and that’s something that I need to figure out, how I can do that,” Scott said.

“I had two or three really good chances this year to do that, and didn’t get it done. That was disappointing, but that’s something a young player needs to learn.”

One of eight players in the 27-man field without a PGA Tour victory this year, Scott put himself in position to change that by making only one mistake. That was a plugged lie in the bunker on No. 10, and he didn’t let that get him down. He finished with eight pars and was tied with Durant at four-under 136.

Durant had to work for his share of the lead, saving par from the bunker on the last two holes. He came up short of the 17th green from a fairway bunker and chipped to two feet, then blasted out of the bunker to eight feet on the par-three closing hole and made the putt.

“Didn’t hit it great but just tried to stay very patient,” Durant said.

Trevor Immelman made six birdies in his round of 66, the low score this week, and was in the group at one-under 139 that included Retief Goosen (71), Stuart Appleby (70) and Brett Quigley (68), who earned the distinction as the only player to get around East Lake without a bogey.

“To not make a bogey out here is unbelievable,” Quigley said.

That starts with keeping the ball in play, and Scott did that better than most. The statistics will show that he missed only four fairways, but he was in the first cut each time.

The rough is not particularly punishing, but it’s deep enough that players have to guess whether they will catch fliers.

“I’m driving the ball well, which I think is really a key around here,” Scott said. “It’s been pretty stress-free for me, which is nice.”

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Annika Sorenstam opened her bid for an LPGA Tour-record sixth consecutive Mizuno Classic title with a one-under 71, leaving her six strokes behind first-round leader Rachel Hetherington.

Coming off a six-stroke victory Sunday in the Ladies European Tour’s Dubai Ladies Masters, Sorenstam birdied the par-five 13th to reach three under but bogeyed the next two holes and closed with three pars on the Kashikojima Country Club course at Mie, Japan.

Hetherington shot a seven-under 65, highlighted by a 25-yard wedge shot for eagle on the 495-yard 13th.

Brittany Lang was in a three-way tie at 68 with Julieta Granada, Mitsuko Kawasaki and Rui Kitada.