ATLANTA — Marcus Lawton, a retired baseball player from Mississippi, stood behind the fifth green at East Lake Golf Club on Saturday listening to Tiger Woods play the fourth hole. Lawton didn’t even bother trying to see Woods, who was surrounded by an ever-swelling crowd of spectators.

When a roar rose from the fourth green, Lawton turned to a stranger and said, “Add another birdie.”

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Woods, who began the day tied for the lead with Justin Rose at seven under par, birdied six of his first seven holes on the way to a five-under 65 to sit alone atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Tour Championship.

“I got off to a nice start there,” Woods said, adding with a smile, “Good Lord.”

In search of his first win since 2013, Woods will go into Sunday’s final round at 12 under for the tournament, three strokes ahead of his nearest challengers, Rose and Rory McIlroy.