Woods & Garcia dominate first round

Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia drafted another sparkling chapter in what promises to be the most exciting rivalry in world golf since the days of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

The two young guns put the thunderstorms of Thursday behind them to light up the gloomy Akron skies with their brilliance with displays which whetted the appetite for the Ryder Cup in four weeks' time.

Woods, crashing his driver straight and true on the verdant fairways of the Firestone Country Club, shot a first-round 66 while Garcia was just a shot behind with a 67, which owed much to the brilliant short game which is so reminiscent of his mentor Seve Ballesteros.

It meant the pair, whose rivalry captured the imagination of the American public at the USPGA, went out in the leading group in the afternoon's second round of the NEC Invitational World Championship of Golf - the first time they have ever played together.

They were joined by Tom Lehman but not far behind was Open champion Paul Lawrie, whose opening 67 proved that he is growing into his new role as a Major winner.

"I've played with big names a few times now," said a delighted Lawrie, whose play-off victory at Carnoustie propelled him into golf's elite.

"And it makes you realise there is not really that much difference between us. It's just a case of who plays better or holes the putts on a certain day, though I had to scramble a lot today."

Lawrie launched his round with a superb 15-foot birdie putt at the fifth hole and three birdies in succession at the ninth, 10th and 11th saw him briefly joint leader.

He bunkered his second shot at the 14th to make his only bogey of the round and could have tied Woods in the clubhouse but for a birdie putt at the last which shaved the hole.

"It's my lowest round in America and I feel pretty comfortable here," said Lawrie, whose afternoon group included Paraguay's Carlos Franco and America's Mark Calcavecchia.

Colin Montgomerie had another of those frustrating days when putts just would not drop but he still shot a one-under-par 69 to be handily placed after the first round.

"I played very well but the biggest difficulty is going from Scandinavia, to America, to Munich and back to America," said Montgomerie.

"You encounter so many different grasses and pace and it's hard to continually make the adjustments."

But while Ryder Cup wild card Andrew Coltart shot a commendable one-over-par 71 on this fiercely long and damp course, the bottom of the leaderboard looked like a European wasteland with Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Jesper Parnevik and Jean Van de Velde all struggling.

The names on everyone's lips, however, were Woods and Garcia.

"I played much better today," said Garcia. "I made a lot of good up and downs and that gave me confidence."

Woods was just delighted to be on a course where he could pull the driver out of the bag and use his advantage as one of golf's longest hitters.

"It's playing tough and long and I was able to use my driver and be aggressive," said Woods.

"It's great to have all the best players here. I was able to beat them all at the USPGA and that's something to be proud of. Hopefully I'll be able to do it again this week."