Woods fires first-round 64 at Deutsche Bank

Tiger Woods carded eight birdies and only one bogey Friday to fire a 7-under-par 64 in the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC Boston in Norton, Mass., the second of four playoff events in the race for the FedExCup. He sits in a tie for third place, two strokes behind leader Seung-Yul Noh.

It marked the second-lowest score of the year on the PGA Tour for Woods, who shot 62 in the final round of the Honda Classic, where he tied for second. It’s also the 12th time in his career he has opened with a 64 or better. Of the previous 11, he went on to win seven times.

“I played really well today,” Woods said. “I hit a lot of good shots, and on top of that I putted well at the same time. It was a nice little combination.”

Tiger has a history of success at TPC Boston. He won the Deutsche Bank Championship in 2006 and has twice been runner-up.

“Today was about the same as I have been playing pretty much all summer,” he said. “It was just a nice, solid round.”

An early back-nine starter with Nick Watney and Brandt Snedeker, Woods parred the 10th hole, then birdied the 231-yard, par-3 11th, sinking a 12-foot putt. After a par at No. 12, Tiger birdied the 451-yard, par-4 13th hole, hitting his approach from 146 yards to 18 feet and burying the putt.

Woods followed with four consecutive pars, then birdied the newly toughened, par-5 18th hole, reaching the green in two with a 3-wood and a 6-iron. He two-putted from 42 feet to make the turn in 3-under 32. But Tiger was just warming up.

Moving to the front nine, Tiger birdied the 365-yard, par-4 first hole, knocking his approach 12 feet from the cup. He added another birdie at the 542-yard, par-5 second, again converting from 12 feet. Woods made it four in a row at the 208-yard, par-3 third, nestling his tee shot to 15 feet.

With the wind starting to kick up, Tiger tallied his fifth straight birdie at the drivable, 293-yard, par-4 fourth, where he hit his drive pin-high, left of the green, 28 yards from the hole. He hit a towering flop shot just over four feet from the hole and made the putt.

“That was a good one,” he said smiling.

Woods recorded his sixth consecutive birdie at the 466-yard, par-4 fifth, where he nearly spun a pitching wedge from 154 yards back into the cup, the ball stopping six inches away. Tiger almost extended his birdie streak to seven straight at the 465-yard, par-4 sixth, but missed a 12-foot putt.

“I pured it,” he said of the putt at No. 6. “I thought it was going to go right. Unfortunately it just wiggled about a half-ball left.”

Woods parred the par-5 seventh and par-3 eighth holes, two-putting the latter from 53 feet. At the 472-yard, par-4 ninth, the third toughest hole on the course, he hit a good drive and just missed the green to the right with a 7-iron from 182 yards, the wind fooling him. The ball settled down in the collar, and he was unable to get up and down, chipping 12 feet beyond the cup.

“The lie wasn’t very good,” Woods said. “The grain was going left-to-right, so I’m going back up against it, and it wants to turn over. So I went with a more speed to try and get through it, and it just didn’t work out.”

Tiger hit 16 of 18 greens. After struggling with his putting last week at The Barclays, Tiger looked solid Friday, using 28 putts. Of his eight birdies, five came on putts of 12 feet or longer.

“I missed a couple little putts out there,” he said. “But I also made my share.”

Tiger will tee off to begin the second round with Watney and Snedeker on Saturday at 1:10 p.m. ET on the first hole.