Tiger Woods stumbled to five-over 77 as Jordan Spieth took the lead with a six-under 66 after the first round of the $3,500,000 Hero World Challenge at the Isleworth Golf and Country Club here Thursday.
Woods, making a comeback after a four-month injury lay-off, opened with a tee shot going out-of-bounds and struggled with his chips and frustratingly saw his putts lip out. Woods managed a solitary birdie (12th hole) against four bogeys and one double bogey and trails Spieth by 11 shots.
However, recently-crowned Australian Open title Spieth continued his superb form and fired seven birdies, five of which came on front nine, and just one bogey on par-3 11th hole. It gave him a one-stroke lead over defending champion Zach Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Steve Stricker and Rickie Fowler.
American Spieth, 21, the youngest man in the field, arrived here Wednesday in time for the Pro-Am but showed no strain Thursday.
"I was jet-lagged. Yesterday I was very tired and it was very rough. Today I felt fine. I was able to sleep till 9 am. It's tough coming back because it's tough to fall asleep, and then you want to sleep in late. I am off late again tomorrow. I was 100 percent today."
Two-time champion, Graeme McDowell shot four-under 68 to be tied sixth with Japanese Hideki Matsuyama and Jimmy Walker, a three-time winner on PGA Tour 2014.
Bubba Watson, 2014 Masters Tournament champion, carded three-under 69 to share ninth spot with Matt Kuchar.
The 38-year-old Woods' best takeaway from the forgettable round was that he felt no pain. "Physically I feel good as there was no pain at all and that's something I have not been able to say in a long time," he said.
Leaderboard:
66: Jordan Spieth (US)
67: Henrik Stenson (SWE), Steve Stricker (US), Rickie Fowler (US), Zach Johnson (US)
68: Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Jimmy Walker (US), Graeme McDowell (NIRE).
69: Matt Kuchar (US), Bubba Watson (US).
70: Chris Kirk (US).
71: Jason Day AUS), Hunter Mahan (US).
72: Justin Rose (SA), Keegan Bradley (US)
73: Patrick Reed (US), Billy Horschel (US).
77: Tiger Woods (US).
