NORTON, Mass. (AP) – Unhappy with how his season has gone, Adam Scott put himself into position to make it a whole lot better Saturday in the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Scott played his final 10 holes in 8 under par at the TPC of Boston, topping it off with a 15-foot birdie putt for a 9-under 62 and a two-stroke lead over Vijay Singh.

The 23-year-old Aussie started his amazing run with a 4-foot eagle on No. 18, and quickly surged past a foreign-dominated leaderboard to take the 36-hole lead for the first time in a PGA Tour event.

“It was a normal day until the 18th finally got me going,” Scott said. “I felt like it was time to get right in the tournament.”

Scott was at 11-under 131.

Singh birdied four straight holes early in his round to reach 10 under, bogeyed the par-3 11th and closed with seven straight pars for a 68.

Tiger Woods was thankful to just stick around for the final two days of a $5 million tournament that benefits his foundation.

He made three straight bogeys and was 3 over par – three shots over the cut line – when Woods responded with six birdies in nine holes to extend his streak to 111 consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour.

“It wasn’t looking very good,” Woods said.

“I just hit bad shot after bad shot. I figured if I got back to even par, I’d be pretty good. And I did a couple better than that.”

Woods finished with a 2-under 69 and was eight shots back.Geoff Ogilvy of Australia had a 66 and was at 8-under 134 with Justin Rose (71).

Scott and Singh, who played late in the afternoon, caught a break when the wind never picked up like it did for the late starters Friday. They were able to take aim at the pins, and no one was more proficient than Scott.

The only putt of significant length came at the par-5 second, his 11th hole of the day.

He hit a 6-iron to the top of the ridge, then watched his 45-foot eagle putt pick up speed, bend toward the hole and disappear.

The rest of the round featured big drives and short irons into 12 feet, and enough birdies to give him something to brag about – he beat the course record by one shot set a day earlier by Rose, one of his best friends.

“I can’t wait to tell him,” Scott said.

He’d rather show him the trophy on Labor Day, although there is still work left.

Scott figures a victory would help atone for a disappointing year, at least by his standards. He has had a few great moments, such as his victory in the Scandinavian Masters and a semifinal loss to Woods in 20 holes at the Match Play Championship.

“You mentioned two weeks. There hasn’t been much else, to be honest,” Scott said. “When I play well, I play quite well. The rest of the time, I play poorly and I’ve missed a lot of cuts this year.”

Woods looked like he might miss the cut for only the second time in his career, the last one coming in the 1997 Canadian Open at Royal Montreal.

His shots looked bad, and his body language looked even worse.

, especially when he started walking briskly as soon as he sailed his tee shot out to the right on the par-3 16th, leading to his third straight bogey.

On the 17th tee, Woods bowed his head and covered the bill of his cap with his hand, deep in concentration.

“I said, ‘Just get committed to this 3-wood,”‘ he said. “I wanted to get something positive going.”

He blistered his tee shot down the middle, hit sand wedge into 4 feet for birdie, then followed that with an approach into 10 feet on the par-5 18th for a two-putt birdie.

When he got to the par-3 third, the leaderboard indicated the cut was projected to be at 1 over par. Woods was at even par, and couldn’t afford any more mistakes.

Not to worry – his tee shot hopped off the hill and stopped 6 inches away.

He got some help at the end, a tee shot that headed into the gallery on the right.

“Don’t hit it,” Woods said, referring to the cart path. It skirted across the path, and Woods said he was told by the gallery that it nicked the red hazard stake when a boy picked it up and dropped the ball in the same spot.

Those are the breaks that have been lacking. He got his par and felt like he still had a chance going into the final two days – although that depends largely on Scott and the other 22 guys ahead of Woods.

Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland, coming off a victory last week in the NEC Invitational was among those at 7-under 135.

Greg Norman had a 67 and was at 136.

Divots: Garrett Willis must love the par-3 11th hole by now. He holed a 70-foot birdie putt with some 20 feet of break in the first round. On Saturday, he made a hole-in-one from 208 yards with a 4-iron. … Robert Allenby was signing autographs after making 11 birdies in his round of 64 when his caddie asked if he should wait for him on the putting green. “Are you serious?” Allenby said. “I’ll just see you tomorrow.” … Grant Waite and Michael Clark, both of whom got to town at 2:30 a.m. Friday as alternates, missed the cut.

AP-ES-08-30-03 1933EDT