Golf:Tiger Woods came into this week's Chevron World Challenge with a glint in his eye and growing confidence in his game but strong winds in yesterday first round made it impossible for him to assess his progress.

The former world number one birdied four of his first five holes on the way to a solid three-under-par 69 at Sherwood Country Club where swirling gusts of up to 35 miles per hour made the back nine something of a lottery.

"It was hard to tell anything out there because it (the wind) was just dancing all over the place," Woods said after ending the day in a tie for second place, three strokes behind South Korean KJ Choi.

"We played six, our second shot. My second shot was downwind and Strick's was into the wind, going the same direction," he said, referring to his playing partner Steve Stricker who also carded a 69.

"And then I hit my second shot on 16. It was supposed to be in, off the left and it went down, off the right.So it's tough out there. You can look at the scores. No one's really doing much. Once the wind started blowing, maybe one or two under par was probably about it since it was howling out there."

Woods, who has been working on the fourth swing change of his career, was one of only six players in the elite field of 18 who broke par with the average score 72.944.

Overall, though, he was encouraged by his start in the tournament which he hosts, and has won four times in 11 appearances.

"Absolutely," said Woods, whose world ranking has slipped to 52nd since his private life unravelled at the end of 2009. "Anything under par was a good day today, with the wind up.

"If the wind stayed down, you're going to have to shoot something probably around 68 or below for it to be a good score. But to be in the red (under par) was a good day today."