Vijay Singh shot an eight-under-par 63 to take a two-shot lead over Tiger Woods after the second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship.
SECOND ROUND LEADERBOARD
US unless stated
-11 V Singh (Fij)
-9 T Woods, J Rollins, B Haas
-8 R Palmer, S Maruyama (Jap)
-7 F Lickliter II, C Howell
Level J Rose (GB)
+5 P Price (GB)
The Fijian could take Woods' number one ranking if he finishes above Woods.
Woods, joint leader after the first round, is two shots back after a 68, alongside John Rollins and Bill Haas.
If Woods, number one for 264 straight weeks and 334 in total, finishes in the top seven, Singh would need to either tie or be ahead of him.
"Everybody keeps talking about it, they keep writing about
it, I keep reading about it," Singh said.
"I'm not concerned about it. It's not going to affect me one way or the other if I
overtake him or not.
"What would that change for me? I'll have to go out there next week and do it all over again."
Singh, the world number two, got off to a whirlwind start, making
an eagle and a birdie on the first two holes.
He also birdied the fourth and seventh holes but bogeyed the
eighth to make the turn in four-under.
Singh then birdied three of the first four holes on his homeward nine before two more birdies - either side of a bogey - in the closing holes saw him post the best round of the tournament so far.
"With a start like that, I guess you can be very aggressive
and attack the golf course," he added.
"I felt I had the green light to go ahead and hit drivers
and go at the pins, and I did and I played well all day.'
Woods, who posted three birdies in his final six holes, also brushed off interest in his number one position.
"Winning just takes care of it," he said. "That's always the
goal, any time I tee it up, to win.
"If you win consistently, you don't have to worry about it."
Former world number one David Duval - the only player apart from Woods to have held top spot over the last six years - sank a three-foot birdie on the 18th to make a cut for the first time in 15 months.
The 2001 Open champion last made a cut at the FBR Open in June 2003.