Woodstock, Ga. ? Baked greens and thick rough were troubling enough Friday at the American Express Championship. Even more daunting was Tiger Woods pulling away from a world-class field without breaking a sweat.

In one of his best rounds of a roller-coaster year, Woods made seven birdies and finished with a 4-under 66 to take a five-stroke lead into the weekend at Capital City Club.

He not only had the best score of the day — only four other players broke par — Woods was eight strokes lower than the course average.

“It’s awfully nice to be in front,” said Woods, who was at 7-under 133.

He hasn’t been in that position at any time during a tournament since going wire-to-wire at the Western Open in early July, which is also the last time he won.

Woods is 19-4 when having at least a share of the 36-hole lead.

The challenge falls to Rocco Mediate, Tim Herron, Sergio Garcia and K.J. Choi, who all gave up shots on the tough Crabapple course and were at 138.

The other players under par were Stuart Appleby (68) and Ignacio Garrido (71), who were at 139. Vijay Singh had his second even-par 70 and was at 140.