Tiger Woods in hunt at Wyndham after opening-round 64
— -- GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Tiger Woods shot his lowest round in more than two years, a 6-under-par 64 that put him near the top of the leaderboard as the first round of the Wyndham Championship continued Thursday.
Woods, making his first start in the tournament at Sedgefield Country Club, had seven birdies and a single bogey on the 7,127-yard, par-70 course. It was his best score since shooting a second-round 61 in August 2013 at Firestone Country Club during the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. That was the site of Woods' 79th and most recent PGA Tour victory.
"I felt very good out there,'' said Woods, who is having the worst season of a professional career that began in 1996. "I hit a lot of good iron shots, made some putts. A round that probably could have been to 2 to 4 under and turned into 6 [under]. I was telling [caddie Joey LaCava] today it was nice to finally get something out of it today instead of going the other way.''
Woods trailed early clubhouse leaders Erik Compton and William McGirt, who each shot 62. Jim Herman and Derek Ernst were tied for second with 63s.
Trying to make a last-ditch effort to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs, Woods entered the Wyndham needing no worse than a solo second to have a shot at qualifying for next week's Barclays -- a tournament that takes the top 125 on the points list. Woods is 187th.
The Wyndham is the final regular-season event of the 2014-15 season.
It didn't hurt Woods that he holed a 55-yard flop shot for a birdie on his first hole (the 10th) as well as two lengthy par putts, including a 12-footer on the ninth, his last.
"I went for the shot, and instead of playing something more conservative, the greens were hard and fast, and I wanted to play something long," Woods said of the birdie at his first. "I got aggressive with it, and I went for it, and I pulled it off. ... I could see it going in."
Woods birdied both of Sedgefield's par-5s but let an opportunity to go lower get away when he failed to birdie the par-4 sixth from 5 feet.
For the round, Woods hit seven of 14 fairways (going 5 under on those holes), 14 of 18 greens and needed just 26 putts.
Woods, 39, is playing just his 11th tournament of the year. He has missed the cut in three consecutive major championships, with his best finish a tie for 17th at the Masters. He has fallen to 286th in the world ranking.
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