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| September 30, 2006 | Saturday | Ramazan 6, 1427 |
Woods makes flying start
WATFORD (England), Sept 29: Tiger Woods imposed himself on the WGC American Express Championship first round on Thursday with a blistering front nine and an eagle finish to end the day a shot ahead of the field.
Woods, seeking his fifth win since the event was inaugurated in 1999, stormed out in just 29 shots and then holed from 20ft on the last for an eight-under round of 63.
His grandstand finish hauled him past Irishman Padraig Harrington and Britain's Ian Poulter, who share second spot.
The world number one had looked imperious as he plundered six birdies going out but made a mistake on the 17th by overshooting the green with his approach, causing his only dropped shot.
Typically, though, he hit straight back, hitting what he felt was his ‘shot of the day’, a three-wood approach under the wind to hit the 18th green and retake the lead.
Fellow American Stewart Cink said earlier that the course was so set up for Woods's game it should be named after him.
Poulter collected nine birdies but bogeyed twice. The Englishman who was devastated at not making the K Club match, continued his good form, following up on his win in the Madrid Open the week before the Ryder Cup.
Cink, after collecting seven birdies with one dropped shot, said his Ryder Cup singles performance in beating Sergio Garcia, who had won all four of his pairs matches, had sent him to the Grove on a high, unlike some of his team mates.
The 2004 winner of the event, Ernie Els, shares fourth place with Cink.
Leading first round scores:
63 – Tiger Woods (US).
64 – Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Ian Poulter (Britain).
65 – Stewart Cink (US), Ernie Els (South Africa).
66 – David Howell (Britain), Jyoti Randhawa (India).
67 – Nick O'Hern (Australia), Adam Scott (Australia), Jim Furyk (US), Robert Karlsson (Sweden), Chad Campbell (US), Simon Dyson (Britain).
68 – Tim Clark (South Africa), Luke Donald (Britain), Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Henrik Stenson (Sweden), Darren Clarke (Britain).
69 – Michael Campbell (New Zealand), Arron Oberholser (US), Sergio Garcia (Spain), Chris DiMarco (US), Robert Allenby (Australia), Lucas Glover (US), Tom Pernice Jr (US), Carl Pettersson (Sweden).
70 – Johan Edfors (Sweden), Bart Bryant (US), Scott Verplank (US), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Brett Wetterich (US), J.J. Henry (US), Brett Quigley (US), Rod Pampling (Australia), Sean O'Hair (US), Thomas Bjorn (Denmark), Zach Johnson (US).—Reuters
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