Woods maintains comfortable advantage

Tiger Woods remained firmly on track for victory at the halfway stage of the final round in the BMW Championship.

The world number one teed off in Illinois today with a seven-shot lead and he maintained that advantage over the first nine holes.

Woods bogeyed the par-four fifth to drop to 15 under but birdies at seven and nine lifted him to 17 under.

Australia’s Marc Leishman moved into second place on 10 under after playing the first nine holes in one under.

American trio Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker were one further back at nine under, just ahead of three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, who was level par for his round and eight under for the championship.

England’s Luke Donald was in contention for a good finish at seven under but his countryman Ian Poulter had a nightmare start to his round, dropping six shots in his first seven holes before finally managing a birdie at the eighth to get back to level par.