The first two weeks in the British Isles have been match play and sour memories for Tiger Woods, whether it was a first-round loss at Wentworth or a resounding loss to Europe in the Ryder Cup.

He returned to stroke play yesterday and to the top of the leaderboard.

Woods took advantage of a soft course with slick, smooth greens for his best start of the year, an 8-under 63 capped off by an eagle on the last hole that gave him a one-shot lead over Padraig Harrington and Ian Poulter in the American Express Championship.

“I made a couple of putts and got things rolling and got the momentum on my side, and just kept rolling,” Woods said.

He finished with his best shot of the day. On the 567-yard closing hole at The Grove, which is uphill and played into a breeze, he hammered a driver down the middle and followed with a three-wood from 267 yards that landed 20 feet from the cup.

Stewart Cink had momentum on his side, too. He hammered Sergio Garcia in Sunday singles at the Ryder Cup, then watched more putts drop on his way to a 6-under 65 that left him tied with Ernie Els.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames, the lone Canadian in the field after Mike Weir pulled out with a bad back, was tied for 50th in the limited-field event after shooting a 73.

Woods matched his best score of the year. He also shot 63 in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston on Labour Day, his fifth consecutive victory. The winning streak ended two weeks ago at the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, although it was a European Tour event that does not count in PGA Tour records.

Woods lost in the first round there. A week later at the Ryder Cup, he had his first winning record (3-2), but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep the Europeans from another 18 1/2-9 1/2 victory over the Americans.

As well as he played yesterday on his own, Woods was defensive about his play at The K Club in Ireland. Had the Ryder Cup been a stroke-play event over five days, he said he did well enough that he would have finished 15th or better.

“I only had one bad day, which was Saturday morning,” he said of a four-balls loss with Jim Furyk. “Other than that, I actually played pretty darn good. I’m only in control of five points, and I got three of five. I did the best I could. I could have holed more putts, certainly, but overall, I thought I played pretty solid.”
Source: hamiltonspectator.com