HARRISON, N.Y. — Tiger Woods looks like he might lose his No. 1 seed by skipping The Barclays, thanks to some stellar golf at Westchester from one of the top players chasing him in the PGA Tour Playoffs.
The surprise is that it's K.J. Choi, not Vijay Singh.
On a course that has given him fits, Choi holed out from 94 yards for eagle on the seventh hole and marched along to a 5-under 66, giving him a two-shot lead over Rich Beem going into the weekend at the first of four playoff events for the FedEx Cup.
And on a course where Singh has won three times, the defending champion cleaned out his locker Friday after missing the cut for the first time at Westchester in five years.
Geoff Ogilvy, who won the U.S. Open down the road at Winged Foot last summer, had a 66 in the swirling breezes of late afternoon and joined Steve Stricker (68) and Rory Sabbatini (71) at 8-under 134.
No one else was within six shots of Choi at 12-under 130.
LPGA TOUR: At Portland, Ore., top-ranked Lorena Ochoa was a shot back of leaders Sophie Gustafson and rookie Ji-Young Oh after the first round of the Safeway Classic. Ochoa, who has won the past two tournaments, threw up her arms after making a long birdie putt on the par-4 18th hole to finish the day with a 5-under 67. Oh and Gustafson each had 66s at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: At Snoqualmie, Wash., Jerry Pate thought his card looked mighty good — four birdies, no bogeys and most important: no three-putts. Pate's 68 put him in a group two shots back in the first round of the Boeing Classic. Ray Stewart, a former PGA Tour player who made the tournament field by shooting 70 and claiming the last automatic spot in a Monday qualifier, made four birdies on his first nine, and finished with a 6-under 66.
DUTCH OPEN: After shooting an opening-round 68, Salt Lake's Tony Finau ballooned to a 77 Friday to miss the cut at the KLM Open at the Kennemer Golf Club in The Netherlands. Finau was one of just two Americans playing in the European Tour event. He was hurt by a quadruple-bogey 8 at fifth hole and a double-bogey 7 at the 12th hole and missed the cut by five shots. David Carter of England shot a second straight 5-under 65 to claim a two-shot lead after the second round.