Adam Scott leads K.J. Choi through golf tour

Australia’s Adam Scott overtook K.J. Choi of South Korea with birdies on his final two holes and moved into the halfway lead at golf’s Tour Championship, the final event on the U.S. PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup schedule.Scott is 8 under par overall, one shot ahead of Choi, after a 5-under 65 yesterday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.The winner of last month’s Bridgestone Invitational, Scott began his day with three bogeys and a birdie over his opening six holes before running off a stretch of four straight birdies on holes 7-10. He finished with consecutive birdies on the par-4 17th and par-3 18th for the second straight day.“I’d like for that trend to continue,” Scott, the tournament’s 2006 winner, told reporters after the round. “If I can play well the next two days and give myself a chance at winning, I’d be very happy. It would finish off a great year for me.”The winner of the Tour Championship, which features the top 30 players on the FedEx Cup points list, gets a $1.4 million check. The winner of the season-long FedEx Cup receives $10 million. Scott entered the tournament 19th on the points list.Fellow Australian Jason Day is tied for third with England’s Luke Donald, the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer, at 6 under, one shot ahead of Americans Bubba Watson, Bill Haas, Keegan Bradley and Hunter Mahan.Bradley, the winner of last month’s PGA Championship, was paired yesterday with Jason Dufner a month after the duo contested a playoff at the PGA about 25 miles away at Atlanta Athletic Club. Dufner shot even par yesterday, dropping into ninth place at 4 under overall.Bradley shot a 6-under-par 64 in the first round to lead Dufner by two strokes coming into yesterday’s second round.Phil Mickelson, who won the Tour Championship in 2009 and 2000, shot even par yesterday and is tied for 15th at 2 under.The four-tournament FedEx Cup playoff is in its fifth year. Tiger Woods won the bonus two of the first three years and Vijay Singh locked up the 2008 title before the final event was played. Jim Furyk, who won the cup last year, didn’t qualify for the Tour Championship this year.Woods isn’t in the field for the second straight year. The 14-time major tournament winner, who has slipped to No. 49 in the Official World Golf Ranking during a 22-month winless drought, wasn’t among the 125 qualifiers for the playoffs this year. Furyk finished 22nd at the previous playoff event, bumping him down to 36th on the points list.