Tiger Woods birdied five holes in a six-hole stretch along the back nine of the Blue Monster on Thursday, shooting an 8-under 64 to take a one-shot lead over Phil Mickelson and four others after the first round of the Ford Championship at Doral.
In a balmy start to the Florida swing of the US PGA Tour's schedule, Woods reached the 603-yard 12th hole in two for his second of five birdies and picked up strokes on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 to sit one shot ahead of Colombia's Camila Villegas, Rich Beem, Ryan Palmer, Mark Wilson and Mickelson.
"This guy Tiger seems to play well every day, every week," Mickelson said. "I'm just trying to keep pace. I'm trying to maybe have another shot at dueling out with him on Sunday, and I'm glad that he's playing well. I've got to do my part and stay with him."
PHOTO: AP
The first round rekindled memories of last year, when Woods won a showdown with Mickelson, pulling ahead on a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 17 while Mickelson lipped out a birdie chip on the last hole.
On Thursday, 60 players broke 70 and 116 players were at par or better.
"The times I looked at the board, neither one of us were up there," Woods said. "We weren't leading. I knew 7 [under] was leading, so try to get up there somehow."
Woods got off to a hot start on a tropical afternoon Thursday with birdies on three of his first four holes, including a tee shot to within a foot on the 222-yard fourth hole. Mickelson, who stated on the back nine, made three straight birdies around the turn, and while his gallery was about one-fourth the size of those watching Woods, they were as passionate as ever.
There were throaty cheers when Mickelson made a 12-foot birdie on No. 5, and one man yelled, "Yeah! He's letting Tiger know that he's coming!"
At that point, Woods was only about 250 yards away as he walked down the 14th fairway. He hit wedge into 10 feet, the start of three straight birdies that shot him to the top of the leaderboard. His 64 was his best score in the first round on the US PGA Tour since a 63 in the 2003 Western Open, which he went on to win by five.
Villegas, one of several promising rookies, overcame a bogey-4 at No. 4 with an eagle on the 528-yard, par-5 eighth and birdied four straight holes until settling for a two-putt par from about 8 feet on the 18th. That put him at 65.
Beem also eagled No. 8 but bogeyed the par-4 16th before finishing with consecutive pars in his round.
And Palmer three times recorded consecutive birdies to stay within a stroke of the lead. Wilson was 7 under until a bogey at 17. He recovered with a birdie on the last hole.
With a mild breeze in the afternoon and soft conditions, conditions were ripe for low scores.
"If you shoot even par, you're going to get run over here," Woods said.
Steve Elkington has been playing Doral every year since 1988, and after a 67, he kept his optimism in check.
"This course always gives up low scores early in the week," he said. "It's nothing to get too excited about."
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