Woods sets pace with opening 64

Anyone who thought Tiger Woods might have a letdown after winning his third straight major championship only had to see the scowl on his face. Or the 64 on his scorecard.

Four days after his draining playoff victory in the PGA Championship, Woods resumed his relentless dominance today by flirting with the course record at Firestone and settling for a one-stroke lead in the NEC Invitational.

"The goal of the week is to win,'' Woods said. "When I'm not playing is the time to rest. When I'm playing this week, it's time to work, and I'm trying to get myself in position to win come Sunday afternoon.''

He certainly can't argue with the start, even if he wasn't happy with his score.

Wood, 7-under par through his first 12 holes, bogeyed two of his last three holes but still managed his lowest first-round score of the year and led Jim Furyk by one stroke in the $5 million World Golf Championship event.

The NEC is for players from the Presidents Cup and U.S. Ryder Cup team, plus the top 12 Europeans from the European Tour money list.

Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard were in a large group at 4-under 66 on a Firestone course softened by overnight rain. Ernie Els and Jose Maria Olazabal were among those at 67. In all, 21 of the 37 players broke par.

At the top, once again, was Woods.

"I know I've had trouble after a win, coming back and playing extremely, extremely well like that,'' Furyk said. "And then to do it after the year he's had. But he's had a little more experience after those wins, too. He knows how to handle it a lot better than I do. It obviously has not bothered him.''

For Woods, it was his 28th consecutive round of par or better, dating to a first-round 73 at the GTE Byron Nelson Classic in May. That matches the longest streak since the PGA Tour began keeping such a statistic in 1980.

Still, Woods was more interested in how he played than what he scored. That much was clear on the first hole when disgust was written on his face after his pitching wedge from 116 yards wound up 20 feet behind the hole.

But it took him only five holes to take the lead, starting with a 6-iron from 206 yards on the par-5 second hole that stopped 9 inches short of the cup for a tap-in eagle. While the gallery started murmuring about a possible 59, Woods was just trying to salvage his round.

"I drove it terrible on the back nine,'' he said. "I was able to keep it on the property, which is good, but that's about it. Consequently, I didn't shoot the scores I wanted to shoot.''

While his thrilling win at Valhalla gave Woods four of the last five majors, he has never played particularly well in his first tournament back from a major. A year ago, he went from the PGA to the International and tied for 37th. And after his first two major championship victories this year -- the U.S. Open and British Open -- he finished out of the top 10.

Tiger Woods putts on the 2nd green. Allsport.

If Woods was trying to guard against a letdown, so was the tournament. The buzz from the gallery was significantly less than it was last week, which wasn't lost on Woods.

"It was nice, without anyone screaming and yelling, someone stretching their vocal chords,'' he said. The last time he could remember it that quiet was when he played a practice round in the British Open at 5:30 a.m.

That didn't mean he didn't give them something to cheer about. Even the times he got in trouble, he usually came up with a heroic save. On the 13th, his ball came to rest on a tree root, the second time in three weeks that has happened.

Woods practiced hitting the top of a leaf, preparing to pick the ball clean. He hit a moon shot over the trees and only chipped the top of the root. The ball landed in a greenside bunker, and he blasted out to 6 feet to save his par.

But as Woods threatened to run away early, he instead ran into trouble. After deciding to lay up on the 625-yard 16th, he put a sand wedge into the back bunker, barely got it out and had to make a 6-footer for bogey.

After driving into the rough on the 18th, his second shot hit a tree and went behind him. He managed to reach the green from there and two-putted for bogey. Then, it was straight to the range to work out his problems.

Woods has troubles that most of his peers would love to have. He already has won seven times this year and almost $6.7 million on the PGA Tour, breaking his earnings record from last year. At this rate, he will shatter his record scoring average, too.

"They say we're playing for more money,'' said Stuart Appleby, who had a 67. "There is only one guy playing for more money. He gets 18 percent of the prize. We get what's left.''

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