Tiger Woods was a happy man on Thursday.
He was happy because he walked off the Sedgefield Country Club course with a scorecard that recorded his lowest round on the PGA Tour since the 2012 Deutsche Bank Championship.
Woods had a seven-birdie, one-bogey effort that produced a six-under par 64 for his first-trip ever around the par 70 layout.
“Finally I got something out of my round,” Woods said with a broad smile on his face.
He perhaps had a notion that things were going his way on his first hole of the day, the par four 10th. Woods drove in the rough then short-sided himself with his second. He hit a high flop shot for his third that landed four feet short of the hole then rolled in for birdie.
Wood gave it back at the 11th. Once again, he was short of the green and tried another flop but this time it didn’t even make it to the putting surface. The resulting bogey was his only blemish on the card. Three more birdies gave him a 32 then he produced three more coming home on the front nine.
Woods credited his putting, particularly some good par-saving putts. “It was nice to make some par putts. There were a couple of times when I blasted it by the hole and made them coming back. I feel more energized when I make those than when I make birdies.”
Scoring conditions were perfect for Woods and the field in general. There was no wind and greens were softened by recent rains, enough rain to put “life-clean-and-place” rules into effect for the first round.
Despite his 64, he was still two shots back as the birdies were also coming easy to a lot of other players.
Erik Compton and William McGirt put up eight-under par 62s in the morning wave while Tom Hoge birdied his last hole of the day in the early evening for his 62. Jim Herman, Morgan Hoffman and Derek Ernst were a shot back of them with 63s.
Woods had company at 64. Martin Kaymer and Carl Pettersson had their own sparkling rounds as did 51-year-old Davis Love III, twice a winner in Greensboro. Hideki Matsuyama, who played with Woods, was one of nine players who shot 65.
Last year, Camilo Villegas won with a 17-under par total and he had a pair of 63s on his card that week. Villegas was one of 15 players who shot 66 on Thursday.
The winning total may be lower this week. Last year’s 36-hole cut was two-under and it may take better than that to make it to the weekend come late Friday.
