ATLANTA, Sept 21: Britain’s Justin Rose sank a curling birdie putt from 52 feet at the par-three last to end Thursday’s opening round of the elite Tour Championship in a tie for the lead with twice winner Tiger Woods.
Englishman Rose watched in amazement as his ball dropped into the cup after breaking sharply from left to right downhill to cap a four-under-par 66 at East Lake Golf Club.
He led the 30-man field for much of the day before Woods, playing in the final pairing with FedExCup points leader Rory McIlroy, caught him with two birdies in the last four holes.
Woods narrowly missed a birdie attempt from 11 feet on the 18th green, his ball sliding past the left edge, and had to settle for an opening 66 in the PGA Tour’s fourth and final playoff event.
“I played well today,” Woods told reporters after mixing six birdies with two bogeys on a long and tight East Lake layout where the greens ran lightning fast. “I hit a lot of good shots out there. I made a couple of putts out there, but more importantly, I got up and down. I was almost right on my number what I could have gotten out of it today.”
Americans Steve Stricker, Matt Kuchar, Bo Van Pelt and Scott Piercy carded 67s while world No 1 McIlroy, bidding for a fifth PGA Tour victory this year, and his fourth in just five starts, returned a 69.
Rose, who clinched his fourth PGA Tour victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March, was delighted to limit potential damage arising from erratic form off the tee with a sizzling putting display.
“You’ve got to keep a much bigger premium of hitting it on the fairway here, and I didn’t do a great job of that today,” Rose said after missing seven of 14 fairways while totalling only 26 putts. “That’s something I can improve on in the next few rounds. If I keep it on the fairway, I feel my iron game and short game is coming around.”
For Rose to land the season-long FedExCup and its $10 million bonus, he knows he is a long shot who has to win the Tour Championship and hope that players ranked higher in the points standings finish poorly.
Rose was 24th at the start of the week while any of the top five — McIlroy, Woods, Nick Watney, Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker — would automatically secure the trophy with victory on Sunday.
Leading first-round scores:66 — Justin Rose (Britain); Tiger Woods (US).
67 — Scott Piercy (US); Bo Van Pelt (US); Matt Kuchar (US); Steve Stricker (US).
68 — Hunter Mahan (US); Adam Scott (Australia); Robert Garrigus (US); Zach Johnson (US); Brandt Snedeker (US).
69 — Ryan Moore (US); Jim Furyk (US); Bubba Watson (US); Sergio Garcia (Spain); Dustin Johnson (US); Phil Mickelson (US);Rory McIlroy (Britain).
70 — Keegan Bradley (US); Jason Dufner (US); Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa).
71 — Rickie Fowler (US); Webb Simpson (US); Carl Pettersson (Sweden); Luke Donald (Britain).
72 — John Senden (Australia); Ernie Els (South Africa); Lee Westwood (Britain).
74 — John Huh (US).
75 — Nick Watney (US).—Reuters