Tiger Woods charged into a four-shot lead with a blistering start to his third round at the Tour Championship on Saturday.

The 14-time major champion, whose last win came at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in 2013, started moving day in a share of the lead with Justin Rose on seven under.

Woods, so impressive in his latest comeback this year following a fourth back operation, got off to a flyer at East Lake to open up a healthy cushion over Rose with five birdies in the first six holes to go 12 under.

While Rose was on course to win the FedEx Cup, sitting in second after the world number one was eight under for the tournament through six holes, it was Woods who was causing a stir in his homeland.

Rory McIlroy made birdies at the second and third holes to take a share of second spot with Rose ahead of the Ryder Cup next week, but a bogey at the par-fourth seventh dropped him back to six under.