Lemont, IL (My Sportsbook) - Tiger Woods kept his spare foot on the pedal.

The other one was planted firmly on Cog Hill's throat.

Woods broke his own course record and took a seven-shot lead Saturday at the BMW Championship with a stirring nine-under 62 that had the world No. 1 taking dead aim at pins -- and his former spot atop the playoff rankings.

Left in the wake was a field of 68 players who must have wondered what course he was playing.

Woods broke the course record of 63 he set in 2003 and matched in '07. He tied the one-round tournament record set by Jim Furyk last year at Bellerive.

"It was one of those things where it kind of just built upon itself," said Woods, who moved to 16-under 197 to also match the 54-hole tournament scoring record set by 2008 winner Camilo Villegas.

Brandt Snedeker had a commendable 66 just to finish within a touchdown of Woods at nine-under 204, earning himself a spot in the final Sunday pairing with the leader.

He'll need a prayer.

"Hopefully he's wasting them all today and won't have one tomorrow," said Snedeker. "But that's why he's No. 1 in the world. I think Paul Goydos said it best, that he is the most underrated player in the world. We just don't give him enough credit."

Marc Leishman, the 25-year-old Australian who eagled his last hole at the Deutsche Bank Championship to make this field, joined Snedeker at 204 after shooting a 68.

Padraig Harrington (69) and Matt Kuchar (66) shared fourth place at eight- under 205, while John Senden (66) and Mark Wilson (71) stood another stroke further back at 206.

Woods hit into a bunker and started his round with a bogey at No. 1 -- the only dropped shot of his round and a wake-up call to the four-time BMW champion.

He looked up and saw Harrington was three-under through four holes.

"After seeing that and seeing what Marc (Leishman) was doing ahead of us, I just figured that you had to get into double digits (under par) today, and I thought that was going to be a good score to end up at," said Woods.

Shaking off the bogey, Woods recovered a stroke with his 15-foot birdie putt at the third hole. He made three-footers at the sixth and eighth to pull within one of the lead.

Then came his most impressive swing of the round -- a soaring 303-yard bomb from the fairway to reach the par-five ninth in two shots. Woods rolled in the 11-foot eagle putt to take the lead at 11-under.

And there was no way he was giving it up.

Woods drained six-foot birdie putts at the 11th and 13th holes to build a four-shot advantage over Leishman, the only player remaining with a chance to keep pace with the world No. 1.

Then, another salvo at the 14th hole, where Woods rolled in a 26-footer for birdie, lifting his putter in the air as the ball curled right-to-left into the cup.

He added a nine-footer at the 15th and a six-footer at the 17th for two more birdies and the new course record.

Woods, who stands No. 2 behind Steve Stricker in the FedEx Cup standings, is a career 46-4 with the third-round lead. But one of those losses is fresh in his mind -- Y.E. Yang's stunning upset victory at the PGA Championship, which left Woods 0-4 in majors this season.

Still, he has won five times already this season coming off knee surgery, and he should have a cake walk to career victory No. 71 on Sunday, barring a major meltdown.

"Even though I didn't win major championships this season, I was there in contention at three of them," said Woods. "All year I've been very consistent considering what I went through last year. I'm very pleased with how it went."

The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings will move on to the fourth and final playoff event in two weeks, the Tour Championship.