Golf:Steve Stricker upstaged playing partner Tiger Woods to earn a share of the lead with fellow American Jim Furyk after the opening round at the Deutsche Bank Championship yesterday.
Stricker notched eight birdies, including five in a row mid-round, to card an impressive eight-under-par 63 in delightful morning conditions at the Boston TPC.
Stricker and Furyk led by two strokes from a large group including South African Retief Goosen, who eagled the par-five 18th from 40 feet, and Masters champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina.
"I played well pretty much all day, hit a lot of fairways and gave myself a lot of opportunities," said Stricker, who missed only two fairways and three greens in regulation.
"It was one of my best ball-striking rounds this year for sure. Tee to green was pretty good and I even missed a couple of putts early in the round that I could have made."
Co-leader Furyk got off to a scorching start, making five birdies in his first six holes and adding three more in bogey-free round to grab a share of the lead later in the day.
"I felt comfortable out there today," said the 2003 US Open champion. "I hit the ball very solid, hit a bunch of fairways, a bunch of greens and more importantly set myself up with a lot of good (birdie) opportunities and took advantage of eight of them."
Woods, aiming to ease the sting of a rare season without a major title, had little positive to say about his opening round after battling to a three-birdie two-bogey 70.
"I didn't really do much of anything positively today," the 14-time major champion said.
"I didn't feel good over any shot today and didn't drive it very good, hit my irons worse and didn't make any putts. Other than that it was a good day."
Pádraig Harrington made a fine start with a four-under par 67 left the three-time major winner inside the top 10.
Having started on the 10th at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts, the Dubliner eased into his round with six straight pars before the first birdie of the day came at the par-three 16th.
It would ignite Harrington for he closed-out the nine with an eagle three at the par-five 18th to turn in three-under 32. What some wouldn’t give for that score on the closing hole come Monday afternoon.
Further birdies came at the third and fourth but just when it looked like the 38-year-old would keep a bogey off the card, he dropped his only shot of the day at the sixth to drop back to four-under.
Harrington, who earlier in the week said he was done with “tinkering” with his swing, has shown a welcome return to form and is well-placed in this €5.2million event, the second of four in the FedEx Cup play-offs.
The Barclays Classic was the first, won by American Heath Slocum in New Jersey last Sunday. Only the top 70 in points rankings will advance to next week's BMW Championship near Chicago. The overall winner takes €7 million in prize money.
