Justin Rose takes opening round honours

Tiger Woods couldn't make a putt. Justin Rose didn't have to.

Rose made five birdies from inside 3 feet, then capped off his first round with a 15-foot eagle from the fringe for an 8-under 63 on Friday and a two-stroke lead in the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Vijay Singh and Cliff Kresge each had a 65 on the Tournament Players Club of Boston. The best scoring came from early starters, as strong breezes kept anyone from getting close to Rose.

The PGA Tour returned to the Boston area for the first time in five years, bringing out some 25,000 spectators who were reminded how easy the game can look when the putts don't have to travel far.

"A fantastic start," Rose said, speaking more to his own round than the Tournament.

He hit a sand wedge into 18 inches on his opening hole, then added two more birdies with an 8-iron into 2 feet on No. 4 and another 8-iron into 3 feet on No. 5. Rose blasted out of a greenside bunker to 18 inches for another birdie on the par-5 seventh.

"I really hadn't made a putt until the eighth, where I knocked in a 20-footer," Rose said. "And suddenly, I was 5 under."

The 23-year-old Englishman finished as good as he started.

He hit his approach into 3 feet on the 17th to catch Singh and Kresge, then blew past them with a 4-iron from 231 yards that easily cleared the marsh, caught a ridge and stopped just on the fringe, setting up his eagle.

Rose set the course record -- not a difficult chore since this was the first Tournament round played on the 7,415-yard layout -- and wound up in the lead for the first time in a Tour event.

"It would be nice to make enough money to have the opportunity to play here a little bit more, should I want to next year," Rose said.

Steve Flesch bogeyed No. 9 for a 66 and was joined by Brent Schwarzrock, Pat Bates, Garrett Willis and Tim Petrovic, who was born in Massachusetts and raised in Connecticut.

Woods, playing for the third straight week, was poised to make a move as well as he hit the ball from tee to green. He spent the rest of his time staring at the cups, trying to figure out why his ball wasn't in the bottom of them.

Woods missed five birdie chances inside 12 feet, and the only three putts he made longer than 6 feet were to save par twice, to save bogey after hitting into the hazard on No. 16.

"I played pretty good, actually," Woods said after a 1-under 70. "I just made absolutely nothing. The worst part is that I hit decent putts that just didn't go in."

He had enough moments like Rose to keep his score respectable.

One was a 5-iron into the glare of the morning sun that cleared a creek and stopped 30 inches from the hole on the par-5 second for a tap-in eagle. He hit a couple of other approaches inside 5 feet.

But the round lacked the kind of momentum that Woods has been searching for since March. Every birdie was followed by a bogey; he made only one par the final seven holes.

The course got tougher in as the wind increased, playing 1½ strokes harder for the afternoon starters.

Among them was U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk, who had a 74.

Brad Faxon, who grew up in Rhode Island, also endured strong gusts in his round of 75, then was hopeful of calm conditions Saturday morning.

"I hope I shoot a good round tomorrow, because I don't want to miss this," he said.

Darren Clarke, coming off a dominant victory last week in the World Gold Championships-NEC Invitational at Firestone, recovered from his extended celebration and was among those at 67.

Clarke was the first European this year to win on the Tour, and Rose took a small step toward making it two in a row.

Not many could have guessed he had a 63 in him a month ago.

Rose was losing enthusiasm and took three weeks off after the British Open. He proceeded to miss the cut at Oak Hill in the PGA Championship, then finished 15 shots behind Clarke last week at Firestone.

"Proved to be disastrous," he said of his break. "But it might be paying benefits now."

He still has three days left in a Tournament that ends on Labor Day.

Still, he is comfortable on a TPC of Boston course that looks much more friendlier than the last two Tournaments. The fairways look generous off the tee, the rough doesn't bury every ball and the greens are firm, but not concrete.

Plus, he has the advantage of being a long hitter who can fly the ball over the bunkers and cut some of the corners on the doglegs.

"It gives you the feeling you can go out there and play golf," Rose said. "You're not feeling like you're caged in, and you're just trying to grind a score out."

There wasn't a lot of grinding for Rose on Friday. Just a lot of tap-ins for birdie.

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