Steve Stricker upstaged playing partner Tiger Woods to earn a share of the lead with fellow American Jim Furyk after the opening round at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Friday.
Stricker notched eight birdies, including five in a row mid-round, to card an impressive eight-under-par 63 in delightful morning conditions at the Boston TPC.
Stricker and Furyk led by two strokes from a large group including South African Retief Goosen, who eagled the par-five 18th from 40 feet, and Masters champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina.
“I played well pretty much all day, hit a lot of fairways and gave myself a lot of opportunities,” Stricker, who missed only two fairways and three greens in regulation, told reporters.
“It was one of my best ball-striking rounds this year for sure. Tee to green was pretty good and I even missed a couple of putts early in the round that I could have made.”
Co-leader Furyk got off to a scorching start, making five birdies in his first six holes and adding three more in bogey-free round to grab a share of the lead later in the day.
“I felt comfortable out there today,” said the 2003 US Open champion. “I hit the ball very solid, hit a bunch of fairways, a bunch of greens and more importantly set myself up with a lot of good (birdie) opportunities and took advantage of eight of them.”
Woods, aiming to ease the sting of a rare season without a major title, had little positive to say about his opening round after battling to a three-birdie two-bogey 70.
“I didn’t really do much of anything positively today,” the 14-time major champion said.
“I didn’t feel good over any shot today and didn’t drive it very good, hit my irons worse and didn’t make any putts. Other than that it was a good day.”
The Deutsche Bank Championship is the second of four events in the PGA Tour’s play-off series after the Barclays Classic, won by American Heath Slocum in New Jersey on Sunday.
Only the top 70 in points rankings will advance to next week’s BMW Championship near Chicago. The overall winner takes $10 million in prize money.
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