Late starter Pádraig Harrington is two off the clubhouse lead after carding a 67 in the Barclays Classic at Liberty National. The Dubliner had four birdies on a flawless card to finish just adrift of stalk leaders Sergio Garcia, Paul Goydos and Steve Marino.
Goydos, who started at the 10th, made five birdies in six holes from the 16th on his way to a six-under-par round, while Marino posted four birdies on each side and reached seven-under before a bogey at the last after a wayward drive.
Tiger Woods shot a one-under-par 70, dropping a stroke at the seventh after driving into a fairway bunker at the 484-yard par-four on the scenic course laid out on the waterfront across from the Statue of Liberty.
The tournament is the opening leg of the US Tour's four-event FedExCup series that will pay a $10 million prize to the overall points leader following the Tour Championship finale next month in Atlanta.
"It's a long, hard golf course with difficult greens," Goydos told reporters, saying he took advantage of relatively calm conditions. "I don't think it's meant to be easy."
One stroke behind the co-leaders on five-under 66 were American Webb Simpson and Fredrik Jacobson of Sweden.
In the clubhouse on three-under 68 were Australians Rod Pampling and Robert Allenby, Sweden's Richard Johnson and Americans Justin Leonard, Nick Watney and Kevin Streelman.
The short-hitting Goydos had to use metal clubs on many holes to get to the small, undulating greens.
"For the first nine holes, I had to hit four rescues into greens, and I should have hit two more," he said.
Still, he was not surprised to see 65 topping the list.
"You have 125 (actually 124) of the best players on the PGA tour here this week, someone is going to shoot a low round every day," Goydos said. "Today was my chance. But you know, four 65s is going to win by an awful lot - that's like a Tiger win."
Goydos said he and playing partner Ernie Els, who shot 72, marvelled at the stunning views of the Statue of Liberty and the skyscrapers of nearby Manhattan that frame the course.
"This is going to be a spectacular tournament on television," he said. "It really is going to be a great spectacle. It's undeniably going to be as gorgeous as hell."
