Tiger Woods stormed into a four shot lead at the Buick Open in Michigan after an excellent second round 63.

Playing at one of the few tournaments he has not won, Woods goes into the weekend at 14 under par and looking every inch the favourite for next week's PGA Championship, the final Major of the year.

For the second straight day, Woods played the Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club without a bogey and his round featured seven birdies and an eagle.

Scott Verplank and J.J. Henry.are the two players nearest to the world number one, both at 10 under, but it already seems that the rest of the field are playing for second place.

The frightening statistic for those players is that Woods has won 15 of the 19 tournaments he has either led or shared the lead after 36 holes.

"You've just got to make birdies," Woods said. "Anyone who has the lead here, they all know that you just have to continue to make birdies.

"You can't go out there and sit around and shoot a couple of 70s and know that the tournament is over. You've got to go out there and post two good numbers."

Woods entered the second round two shots behind Kent Jones, the first round leader, but promptly birdied the par-five first hole to start a five-under 31 outward nine.

He made birdie at the par-three 11th and par-four 14th, then finished off with an eagle at the par-five 16th hole.

His last bogey in tournament golf came in the final round of the Open Championship at Muirfield.

"Making bogey just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, especially with starting off five-under through eight, bogeying the ninth hole would not have been good," said Woods, who had to save par on the ninth.

Of the challengers, only Verplank was confident enough to admit that the tournament was not over.

"The guy is great, but if you give up now, we shouldn't play the first two days," said the man who will represent America in the forthcoming Ryder Cup.

Second round leaderboard
(US unless stated)