Woods in front, eyes title

His 64 helped him to retain a three-shot lead at the Tour Championship.

ATLANTA (AP) — PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was lost in a sea of fans on the sixth hole, hearing cheers from every corner of East Lake without knowing for sure what they meant.

Once he was filled in on the details — two quick birdies for Tiger Woods to stretch his lead to five shots at the Tour Championship — he looked at a scoreboard in the distance and said, “We need this thing to tighten up.”

The FedEx Cup? Not a chance.

Woods took care of the $10 million retirement deposit with a 6-under 64 Saturday to retain a three-shot lead. The odds are stacked so great in his favor that even if Phil Mickelson were to birdie every hole in the final round, it still probably wouldn’t be enough.

What matters to Woods now is the crystal trophy for winning the Tour Championship.

And even that 64 to give him the lowest 54-hole start of his PGA Tour wasn’t enough to guarantee that. Not on a pushover like East Lake, where the greens are slow and soft and pins looking like something the players see in a pro-am. The perfect storm of scoring conditions were never more evident in a sunny afternoon.

Johnson sets record

Zach Johnson came within a birdie on the 18th hole of a 59, instead hitting into a bunker and settling for a 60 that broke the East Lake record by two shots. Mark Calcavecchia shot a 63 and only gained one shot on the lead. Sergio Garcia shot a 64 and didn’t make up any ground at all.

Woods has never played in the Bob Hope Classic. After a week like this, he doesn’t have to.

“I can’t remember too many golf courses that have been easier than this one,” he said after missing a 7-foot birdie on the final hole to settle for a 19-under 191 and a three-shot lead over Calcavecchia.

Woods was watching and laughing from the par-5 15th fairway as Calcavecchia made eagle to join him atop the leaderboard, but that didn’t last long. Woods birdied his next two holes to give himself a cushion for the final round.

“If I lose the tournament and win the FedEx Cup, I don’t think I’m going to be too happy, really, that I’ve lost the tournament,” he said.

Woods has never lost as pro when leading by more than one shot going into the final round. But on this golf course, he won’t be able to protect his lead by making pars. That much was clear Saturday.

“If you made a bunch of pars, you were going to get run over, so it was nice to make some birdies and get out there and still maintain the same size lead I had starting out the day,” Woods said. “You see the rounds today — 60, 62 — and guys were taking it deep. I was hoping that I could make some birdies myself and basically shoot something in the mid-60s.”