Woods, McIlroy tied for lead at 62
Tiger Woods had his best score on the PGA Tour in more than 5 years with an 8-under 62 at Aronimink for a share of the BMW Championship lead with Rory McIlroy.
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — With the glare of a scorching sun in his eyes, Tiger Woods couldn’t believe what he saw.
He finally missed a green on his 14th hole.
“Is that long?” he said to his caddie. “I thought it was perfect.”
Everything else felt that way Thursday in the BMW Championship, where Woods had his lowest score in an opening round in nearly 20 years and his best score on the PGA Tour since his last victory more than five years ago. With a bogey on his penultimate hole, he had an 8-under 62 at Aronimink.
And all that got him was a share of the lead with Rory McIlroy.
“Just the way it goes,” Woods said with a smile, caring more about a complete round of golf and a strong performance with his old putter than whether he was leading after one round in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Aronimink was never easier, not with temperatures in the upper 90s and feeling even hotter. Not on a course with generous fairways and greens so soft that Woods hit a 3-iron from 242 yards that landed 8 feet in front of the hole and stopped 5 feet away next to the pin. Woods hit nothing longer than a 9-iron into the par 4s. McIlroy relied heavily on his wedge game to make a strong bid at 59, only to make consecutive bogeys late in his round and having to settle for a 62.
Through all the sweat, through all the birdies, they managed to give Philadelphia fans a reason to cheer for golf in the hours before the Super Bowl champion Eagles opened the NFL season Thursday night at home against Atlanta.
“It was one of those days where it was out there,” McIlroy said.
And it was a Thursday, finally, that included Woods in the mix. He had failed to break par in the opening round at 10 of his last 11 tournaments.
“Got off to a better start than I have most of the season. And as of right now,” he said, pausing to smile, “I’m one back. Just the way it goes.”
He had just signed his card and saw that McIlroy was at 9-under, and by the time he stepped out from the hot sun and suggested another ice bath might be in order, McIlroy had dropped two shots before finishing with a two-putt birdie.
It was the lowest score for Woods since he shot 61 in the second round of the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational, which he won by seven shots for his 79th title on the PGA Tour and 90th worldwide. It remains his last victory. And it was his best opening round since a 61 in the 1999 Byron Nelson Classic on a similar kind of day. Woods shot 29 on the front nine that day at Cottonwood Valley and it wasn’t even the best score in his group (Paul Goydos shot 28.) Woods wound up with a one-shot lead that day and tied for seventh. Woods returned to the same putter he has used to win 13 of his 14 majors — his third different putter in as many weeks — and saw some familiar results. He opened with a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 10, shot 29 on the back nine, and then rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 1 to reach 7-under through 10 holes.
Jordan Spieth couldn’t stay in play off the tee and didn’t get under par until his 15th hole. He birdied three of the last four for a 67. Peter Uihlein, who advanced to the third FedEx Cup playoff event with birdies on his last three holes on the TPC Boston last week, had a 64 to join a group that included FedEx Cup champ Justin Thomas.
Kieffer ahead
CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland — Maximilian Kieffer shot a 6-under 64 to lead the European Masters’ first round on Thursday. The 28-year-old German, who never has won on the European Tour, had seven birdies and one bogey in finishing one shot better than Andy Sullivan, Soren Kjeldsen, Julien Guerrier and Hideto Tanihara.