FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD:
-8 S Stricker (US), J Furyk (US) -6 S Verplank (US), A Cabrera (Arg), J Leonard (US), M Kuchar (US) R Goosen (SA) -5 J Kelly (US), T Matteson (US), S O'Hair (US), G Ogilvy (Aus), J Dufner (US) Selected others: -4 P Harrington (Ire), B Davis (Eng), V Singh (Fij) -2 G Owen (Eng), L Donald (Eng), J Rose (Eng) -1 S Garcia (Spa), T Woods (US)
 Furyk shares the lead with fellow American Stricker |
Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk claimed a share of the lead after the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. The American pair struck eight-under-par rounds of 63 to move two shots clear at the TPC Boston in Norton. Masters champion Angel Cabrera and two-time US Open winner Retief Goosen were in a group of five at six under. Ireland's Padraig Harrington, England's Brian Davis and Fiji's Vijay Singh were four under with world number one Tiger Woods one under after a round of 70. Starting his round at the 10th, Stricker birdied his first two holes, added six further birdies, including four in a row after the turn, and was bogey-free for the day. "To get off to a birdie-birdie start just kind of got the day started in the right direction," Stricker said. Furyk also got off to a flying start with five birdies in his first six holes before picking up further shots at the 14th, 17th and 18th.  | 606: DEBATE |
South Africa's Goosen eagled the par-five 18th to post a 65 and move level with Cabrera and American trio Scott Verplank, Justin Leonard and Matt Kuchar. Woods, playing with world number four Stricker for the second straight week, holed a long birdie putt at the 8th, his 17th, to edge under par after trading three birdies with two bogeys. Woods hit one tee shot into the bushes for a penalty shot and failed to convert five birdie chances he had inside 12 feet. "I didn't really do much of anything positive," Woods said. "I didn't feel good over any shot. "Didn't drive it very good, hit my irons worse and didn't make any putts. Other than that, it was a good day." Of Stricker Woods said: "It was unbelievable. He made one mistake there at No. 7, but other than that, you'd be hard-pressed to find a shot that he hit off line." World number two Phil Mickelson was a further shot back at level par alongside USPGA champion YE Yang, while England's Ian Poulter ended one over but Ernie Els struggled to a four-over 75. The event is the second of the four end-of-season play-offs in the Fed Ex Cup on the PGA Tour. The 125-strong field at last week's Barclays tournament was whittled down to 100 for this week. A total of 70 players will make it through to the BMW Championship with the final 30 from the Fed Ex Cup points list competing at the season-ending Tour Championship.
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