Woods shoots 65, shares lead at Barclays

Golf Betting Lines

08/26/2010 - Paramus, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playing his best golf this year, Tiger Woods shot a six-under 65 Thursday to tie Vaughn Taylor for the first-round lead at The Barclays.

Woods played in the first group out in the morning wave and racked up seven birdies and just one bogey in the PGA Tour playoffs opener.

"I just played today," Woods said.

Of course, it was the first competitive round for the world No. 1 since his divorce was made public on Monday, ending nine months of speculation about where he and Elin Nordegren stood as a couple in the wake of his sex scandal.

While he wouldn't say that a weight has been lifted from his shoulders, Woods seemed to hint that the turmoil in his personal life played as much a part in his recent on-course struggles as his swing problems.

"I think it's all of the above," he said.

Shaking free of those struggles, at least for a day, Woods took his first lead on the PGA Tour since the second round of last year's Tour Championship after shooting his best round in six career Barclays starts.

The Tour Championship is exactly what Woods is trying to reach. He entered the playoffs ranked 112th on the points list and needs to finish inside the top 57 at Ridgewood to make the 100-player field for next week's Deutsche Bank Championship.

After that, the fields are reduced to 70 players for the BMW Championship and 30 for the playoffs finale at the Tour Championship. Last year, only seven players ranked outside the top 30 at the beginning of the playoffs made it all the way to the last event.

Woods, a two-time FedEx Cup champion, could mathematically move to No. 1 in the standings with a victory this week.

"I figure if I win I should be OK," he said.

Taylor, who stands 38th in the FedEx Cup rankings, overcame an early bogey at No. 3 with seven birdies the rest of the way. He birdied four of his last six holes to join Woods in the early lead.

With his tour card locked up and sitting in a good position to make at least a couple more playoff fields, Taylor said everything else is just "gravy."

"Obviously (I) want to finish as high as I can on the FedEx and the money lists to get in all the majors next year and things of that nature. So it's pressure off, but also a little bit of pressure to reach your goals," he said.

Ryan Palmer cooled off after shooting a seven-under 28 on the front nine. He made a double-bogey at the 10th, a birdie at the 13th and closed with a bogey at the 18th to shoot a 66 and share third place with Brian Gay and Adam Scott, who also bogeyed his last hole to fall out of a share of the lead.

Davis Love III, Camilo Villegas and Stewart Cink led a large group at 67 that also included defending champion Heath Slocum, whose one-shot victory last year was a shocker over Woods, Ernie Els, Steve Stricker and Padraig Harrington.

Els, the FedEx Cup leader, opened with a 71 on Thursday, while Stricker, who is second in points, had a 70.

Phil Mickelson is the next highest-seeded player in the field after Jim Furyk's Wednesday disqualification for missing the pro-am. Currently No. 4 on the points list, Lefty never got anything going in a round of 72.

Mulling over another swing change -- it would be his fourth new swing on tour -- Woods played in the first group off No. 1 and opened with a 15-foot birdie putt.

"It was a good ball-striking day," he said. "Nice to have control. I didn't warm up very well initially. Was struggling a little bit. But fixed it, and I was committed to it all day."

Taking advantage of a soft course and calm conditions, Woods rattled off three more birdies on the front nine, making the turn with a four-under 31. He drove the green at the short par-four fifth and two-putted for one of those birdies.

"You had to get it today, especially with the wind being down early and then we had fresh greens," Woods said. "It was good to be out early."

He made his only bogey at No. 12, hitting his approach into a bunker. But he bounced right back with a six-foot birdie putt at the 13th and three-footer for birdie at the 14th.

Woods knocked his final approach to seven feet at the 18th, closing with a birdie for his best score of the year.

The 65 snapped a streak of 11 consecutive rounds in the 70s for Woods going back to the second round of the British Open. It was just his second sub-70 score in his last 18 rounds.

"It's exciting to hit the ball flush like this again. It's something I've been missing all year," said Woods. "I haven't hit it flush. And it felt good to hit the ball and shape it both ways and really hit it through the wind.

"I've hit so many shots this year that haven't been hit flush enough to get through the wind. But today I was doing it all day."

NOTES: Woods, who has yet to win this season, took his first 18-hole lead since the 2009 PGA Championship, where he famously finished second to Y.E. Yang...Woods is 13-12 when holding at least a share of the first-round lead on the PGA Tour. He is winless in his last three opportunities, however, dating back to a victory at the 2006 CA Championship.