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Villegas shoots a career-best round to lead Deutsche Bank

Camilo Villegas shot a career-low 63 on Friday at the Deutsche Bank Championship to take a two-stroke lead, while Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh were a combined three over par and delivered some memorable moments they would rather forget.

Mickelson twice searched the forest along the ninth hole, trying to find his golf ball. He wound up with a triple bogey that spoiled an otherwise solid round of 70.

Woods took three shots to get out of the bunker on the fourth hole and made double bogey. He spent the rest of the sunny afternoon on the TPC of Boston trying to get back to even par, missing four birdie putts inside 3m and settling for a one-over 72.

Singh set the tone for the threesome by four-putting from 5m on the opening hole. He shot 74. It was the second straight week in the US PGA Tour Playoffs that Singh had a four-putt double bogey.

"I don't normally four-putt from that close," he said.

Villegas had a bogey-free round that he finished off with a pair of birdies.

"Kept the ball in play and rolled in some beautiful putts," Villegas said. "I was happy with my round. It's very early in the week, and it's time to keep it going."

He had a two-shot lead over former US Masters champion Mike Weir and Ryan Moore, while Barclays winner Steve Stricker continued his solid play with a 67 that helped his chances of staying atop the playoff standings.

The Deutsche Bank is most critical for Weir, who needs to finish at least fifth to have any chance of getting to the BMW Championship next week. Otherwise, it's three weeks vacation before playing in the Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal.

Weir started his round by holing a bunker shot for birdie, and he finished it by hitting into the swamp short of the par-five 18th green and getting up-and-down for par and his lowest round of the year.

"Today was nice to get a lot out of my round," Weir said.

"A lot of the rounds I've played this year, I look back and I think, `I should have been three or four better.' Today, I can't look at really anything that I could have done much better,'' he said.
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