And it's been a while since Vijay Singh was 21 shots behind Woods after two rounds. The Fijian has opened with rounds of 73-75.

Ernie Els, who lives about 30 minutes away and played The Grove twice last week to get familiar with it, made eagle on the second hole to get within one shot of the lead early in his round, but he stalled after that. Els had to make birdie on the final hole for a 70, leaving him eight shots behind.

Woods opened with a 12-foot birdie, then plodded along under mostly gray skies north of London, rarely giving himself good looks at birdie and having to struggle at times for par.

That changed on what is becoming his favorite hole, the 567-yard 18th.

On Thursday, he ripped a 3-wood into the breeze to within 20 feet for eagle that gave him a 63 and a one-shot lead. It was his ninth hole of the second round, and the result was event better. From only 246 yards this time, his approached landed as softly as a 6-iron, some 10 feet behind the flag for another eagle.

"That basically got things started," Woods said.

Woods was trailing Furyk by one shot when he stood in the 18th fairway, and his eagle gave him a one-shot lead. Then he took off, reaching the par-5 second in two shots for a routine birdie, then reeling off three straight birdies starting with a 35-footer at the fourth.

The rain became heavy as he finished his last two holes, making the course only softer and longer.

Furyk was 7 under for his round through 13 holes when he stopped making birdies, and a tee shot into the rough on the sixth hole left no chance to reach the green. He missed a 12-foot par putt.

"I wish I would have finished it off a little better," Furyk said.

Cink reached 11 under with a birdie at No. 6, but he missed the eighth fairway to the right and couldn't reach the green. Cink missed his 12-foot par putt there, and a 12-footer for birdie on the ninth that would have put him in the final group with Woods.

"I've got a lot of momentum after last week, even though we didn't win," Cink said. "I'm really looking forward to the challenge, going out there and mixing it up. Tiger is well ahead."

Brett Quigley matched Woods for the best round Friday with a 64, moving him up to 8-under 134, still seven shots behind in his debut at a World Golf Championship event.

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