02 October 2004	Saturday	16 Shaban 1425

KILKENNY, Oct 1: A hurting Tiger Woods fought through the pain to move to within only two shots of first round leader Todd Hamilton in the seven million dollar WGC American Express Championship on Thursday.

It was a gutsy performance from the 28-year-old who only decided to play after a late fitness test on his injured shoulder on the practice range before he was due to tee off.

It was clear the former world number one was suffering as he continually held his left arm to his chest after each shot. Several times he winced, so sore was the stabbing pain that followed a full shot.

Hamilton, playing in only his third WGC tournament, proved he deserved his place in the elite field, with a stunning six-under 66 opening round. And but for a bogey on the final hole, the 39-year-old American, who learnt his craft in Asia, played near flawless golf.

Sergio Garcia, who said he had slept a lot since the Ryder Cup two weeks ago in a bid to recover, threatened to match the course record of 10-under he shot here two years ago.

Garcia went out in a sparkling five-under 31 and when he birdied the 10th a bid at the record was on in the near perfect conditions. The course had been softened by overnight rain and low scoring was on the cards. But the young Spaniard faltered on the way home, dropping shots to cancel out the two birdies he made and had to settle for a five-under 67 and one back from Hamilton.

FIRST ROUND SCORES

66 - Todd Hamilton

67 - Miguel Angel Jimenez, Steve Flesch, Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Stuart Appleby

68 - Zack Johnson, Thomas Bjorn, Nick O'Hern, Retief Goosen, Lee Westwood, Tiger Woods, Robert Allenby, Justin Leonard

69 - Jerry Kelly, Chris DiMarco, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Peter Senior, Barry Lane, David Howell, Angel Cabrera, Peter Lonard, Carlos Franco, Scott Drummond

70 - Desvonde Botes, Alex Cejka, Paul McGinley, Jim Furyk, Shigeki Maruyama, David Toms, Brad Faxon, Andrew Stolz, Chris Riley, Chad Campbell, Jonathan Kaye. -Reuters