Easy pickings for Woods, who shoots 63

ATLANTA -- The numbers keep adding up for Tiger Woods. . . 28 on the front nine Friday, 13 under par in his first 27 holes, holing a bunker shot from 63 feet, making a 70-foot eagle putt, shooting 63 in the second round and assembling a three-shot lead over Woody Austin in the $7-million Tour Championship.

It’s too early to hand Woods the winner’s check, but there’s nothing like the present time to calculate what’s at stake.

Try crunching these numbers. If Woods wins Sunday, he will have won two of the four playoff tournaments, taken the $10-million FedEx Cup bonus and earned $13 million out of the $63 million total payout of the entire FedEx Cup -- about 21%.

And, yes, there are still 36 holes to go in the FedEx Cup finale, but plenty of people knew what Tim Clark meant when he was asked about the weekend.

“Second place. I mean, it looks like that’s what we’re playing for right now,” Clark said.

On a long day, Woods made short work of East Lake Country Club. He played seven holes to complete his first round with a six-under 64, then went even lower with a seven-under 63.

Woods’ explanation: “I had a nice little roll there.”

You could say that. Woods’ 13-under par total of 127 is the second-lowest opening 36 holes of his career. Woods started the day four shots behind Clark but had a four-shot lead over Adam Scott after nine holes of his second round, and rolled in an 18-footer for a birdie at the 18th to end a remarkable round and a dazzling day.

Most of the time the sky was a dull gray, but Woods was positively lighting up the course, especially in a six-hole stretch on the front nine in his second round.

Woods made five consecutive birdies, including that bunker shot that dropped into the fifth hole (which he said he didn’t see), and then coaxed a cross-country putt into the hole at the ninth -- the only eagle on the hole so far in the tournament.

He had only five putts in those six holes. He needed a total of 17 shots and only one of the holes was a par three.

There isn’t a whole lot of new ground for Woods to break, but his 28 on the front nine was the lowest of his career. And he didn’t know he was doing it.

“I didn’t know until I got in the scoring tent,” Woods said. “You just play shot for shot, hole for hole, and you just get lost into that type of rhythm, and you don’t really realize the score you’re at.”

Austin, who has put together consecutive rounds of 65, could have been closer, but he three-putted the 14th and missed make-able birdie putts at the 17th and 18th.

“You can’t ask for better scoring conditions other than the fact the greens aren’t in the best of shape,” he said.

Austin also said Woods isn’t untouchable, and he is correct. Woods is 29-6 when holding the 36-hole lead in PGA Tour events, but he’s 9-0 since failing the last time, at the 2004 Byron Nelson, which Sergio Garcia won.

“He’s just hard to catch,” Austin said. “He’s not hard to beat if you’re playing as well and you’re right there. But if you let him get in front of you, he’s hard to catch.”

Clark followed his first-round 62 with a one-under 69 and is tied for third with Mark Calcavecchia and Scott at nine-under 131, four shots behind Woods.

While on his way to a 66, Calcavecchia knew all about Woods’ 28. But there was still something that puzzled the wry Calcavecchia.

“Trying to figure out which holes he parred, actually,” he said.

“The first three? He got off to a bad start. He could be in a slump. I noticed he made a bogey. I think he’s losing it.”

Once again, the greens were a combination of soft and bumpy, but scoring was an easy street.

Only Brandt Snedeker and Jonathan Byrd are over par, and making birdies is clearly a necessity. For instance, Rory Sabbatini hasn’t had a bogey in 36 holes, but he’s tied for 16th. Padraig Harrington was one shot out of the lead after the first round, but shot a 70 Friday and got trampled.

“You just can’t make pars,” Woods said. “That’s just the nature of this tournament this week, which is so different than most Tour Championships. You’ve got to be aggressive, you’ve got to make birdies, and if you don’t, you’re going to get passed.”

Woods said his 70-foot putt for eagle at the ninth hole wasn’t something he expected.

“Pure luck. If you could have been right behind the golf ball and seen how that thing was bouncing all over the place, it was actually quite funny,” he said.

When the ball dropped, Woods covered his eyes and started to chuckle. The way things are going for Woods, no one else is laughing.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com