Tiger opens with a 66 in Australia Masters to share lead

Playing for the first time Down Under in 11 years, before an enormous gallery only seen at major championships, Woods putted for birdie on every hole until the last one. He pulled his drive into a tea tree, chopped out into the rough and took two putts from 40 feet for his lone bogey.

“Other than that, it was a pretty good day,” Woods said. Woods shared the lead with James Nitties of Australia and Branden Grace of South Africa. Nitties, who easily retained his PGA Tour card in his rookie season in America, played behind Woods and finished with two birdies on his final three holes. Grace ran off four birdies at the turn for a solid start in his first trip to Melbourne.

Woods missed only two fairways in a round that was relatively free of stress. He hit a driver off the tee five times and, apart for the final hole, kept it in play and away from the trouble. Woods chose to lay back from the bunkers on several of the short par 4s at Kingston Heath, and a couple of times hit poor shots or played purposely away from the flags. “You play for what it's giving you,” Woods said. “I didn't have to change my game plan on any hole.” He made his move toward the end of the round, hitting 3-wood to the 294-yard sixth hole that held its line to the left of the bunkers and came up just short of the green, leaving an easy chip to within a foot. After a poor tee shot left him a bad angle to the green on the seventh, Woods hit an 8-iron over the corner of trees to 20 feet for another birdie, then hit an 8-iron to 7 feet on the third. Far more impressive than the golf, however, was the gallery.

Traffic was backed up along Kingston Road outside the club for kilometers (miles) in the hour before Woods tee off.

“I know,” he said. “I was stuck in it, too.”

The tournament has been a sellout for months, and it remains peculiar to see a ticket window at an Australian golf tournament with a sign that says “Sold out.” The cap was at 100,000 tickets for the week, and while it was impossible for 25,000 fans to stay on one hole, whoever couldn't fit in moved ahead to the next couple of holes.

That turned into a treat for the likes of England's Seve Benson, playing in the group ahead of Woods, feeling like a rock star himself.

“It was amazing,” Benson said after a 70.

Thousands headed for the exit when Woods finished, although a fair crowd stuck around for the afternoon, even though the action slowed severely. Australia's Mathew Goggin, who played in the final group at Turnberry with Tom Watson, had a 69 to match the best score in afternoon, when stands were half-full.

Most of the crowd followed Adam Scott, slowed by a three-putt bogey from 10 feet in his round of 71. Stuart Appleby also had a 69.

Parry holed a 50-foot putt on the fourth and shot 70, while Pampling had a 71.

Nitties was among those in the group behind Woods, and he couldn't believe when his group was told they were behind the clock.

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