Tiger burning bright again - 65

for starters at Quail Hollow

This was more like the "old" Tiger Woods - only 30 shots to cover the back nine, a razor-sharp short game and eventually a seven-under-par return of 65 to take a two-shot lead at the end of the first round in the Quail Hollow Championship at Charlotte, North Carolina.
Woods, one of the first starters of the day - perhaps he asked for an early time? - started his round at the 10th. He caught the leaders with a birdie at the par-5 fifth and then ended his day with a hat-trick of birdies, the last one the best of the bunch - a six-iron from the rough to 12ft of the stick and down went the putt.
The Quail Hollow rough has been shaved to a uniform two inches, which means the grass is only slightly longer than the fairways and there is virtually no penalty for missing a fairway.
On firm, fast greens, Woods was in his element.
"I hit a couple of loose shots here and there, but I really putted well," Woods said. "I had a couple of key saves - made a nice little up-and-down at the second and just a really good save at the fourth that kept the round going. It's always nice when you birdie the last three."
It was quite a turnaround from his last tournament -- the Masters -- when he bogeyed the last two holes to kill any hopes of a rally.
South African Retief Goosen had a 68 as did Jeff Maggert, Hunter Mahan and Lucas Glover.
Masters champion Angel Cabrera returned a 70.
"It's definitely set up to favour the longer hitters," Goosen said. "I hit only four fairways and shot 68."
Woods missed his drive well to the right on the 18th, hung his head, but found no problem from the rough, what little there was. He hit a medium iron just left of the flag for a routine par.
"Normally, you don't have an opportunity there," Woods said. "Usually, it's 4- or 5-inch rough over there in that little hollow. So it plays differently. You can play different shots. But you're going at some of those flags you probably shouldn't."
Woods closed with four birdies over the final five holes.
"I putted the same as I did at Augusta," he said. "But this time they went in instead of lipping out."
At the end of the day, Woods led by two shots from four men on the 67 mark - arch-rival Phil Mickelson, Steve Marino, Jason Dufner and Australian Robert Allenby.
Glasgow's Martin Laird had a 74, one shot ahead of Padraig Harrington.

FIRST ROUND SCORES
Par 72
65 Tiger Woods
67 Phil Mickelson, Steve Marino, Jason Dufner, Robert Allenby (Aus)
68 Hunter Mahan, Jeff Maggert, Retief Goosen (Rsa), Lucas Glover
69 Charles Warren, Steve Flesch, Cliff Kresge, Nick O'Hern (Aus), Jeff Klauk, George McNeill, Sean O'Hair, Mark Calcavecchia, Bill Haas, Bo Van Pelt
70 Jonathan Kaye, Jeff Overton, Colt Knost, Gary Woodland, Steve Wheatcroft, Robert Karlsson (Swe), Will MacKenzie, Nathan Green (Aus), Ben Crane, David Mathis, Ken Duke, Rodney Pampling (Aus), Zach Johnson, John Merrick, Davis Love III, Ted Purdy, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Kevin Streelman, Brian Bateman, John Rollins, Michael Allen, Anthony Kim, Brendon Todd
71 Nick Watney, Aron Price (Aus), Sergio Garcia (Spa), David Toms, Woody Austin, Martin Kaymer (Ger), Kevin Sutherland, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Charles Howell III, Danny Lee (Nzl), Brett Quigley, Tim Petrovic, Boo Weekley, Nicholas Thompson, John Senden (Aus), Joe Ogilvie, Eric Axley, Bubba Watson, Peter Lonard (Aus), Mathew Goggin (Aus), Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Jim Furyk, Ian Poulter, Rich Beem, Camilo Villegas (Col), Johnson Wagner
72 Bill Lunde, David Berganio Jnr., Matt Bettencourt, Chez Reavie, Chad Campbell, Jason Bohn, Y.E. Yang (Kor), Jerry Kelly, Brian Davis, Kent Jones, Brendon De Jonge, Stewart Cink, Matt Kuchar, Tom Pernice Jnr., Jonathan Byrd, Rocco Mediate
73 Ross Fisher, Vaughn Taylor, Jeff Quinney, James Nitties (Aus), Tommy Armour III, Marc Leishman (Aus), Stuart Appleby (Aus), Chris Stroud, Greg Chalmers (Aus), Steve Lowery, Scott Piercy, Parker McLachlin, Steve Elkington (Aus), Jarrod Lyle (Aus), J J Henry, Richard S Johnson (Swe), Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Paul Goydos, Andres Romero (Arg), Cameron Beckman, John Huston, Ryan Moore, Padraig Harrington
74 Michael Letzig, Kirk Triplett, Robert Garrigus, Harrison Frazar, Greg Kraft, Ben Curtis, Webb Simpson, Derek Fathauer, Justin Rose, Shaun Micheel, Martin Laird, Peter Tomasulo, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Pat Perez, Chris DiMarco, D.A. Points, Brad Faxon, J.B. Holmes, K J Choi (Kor), Troy Matteson
75 Stephen Leaney (Aus), Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Aaron Watkins, Notah Begay III, Jay Williamson, Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Jason Gore, D.J. Trahan
76 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Curt Sanders, Vijay Singh (Fij), Roland Thatcher, Glen Day, David Duval, Greg Owen, Heath Slocum
77 Paul Claxton, Spencer Levin, Adam Scott (Aus), Dean Wilson
78 Casey Wittenberg, Billy Mayfair, Todd Hamilton, Mark Wilson
Withdrew: Kevin Na 78, Turnesa Marc, McCarron Scott, Adamonis Brad