Woods is hoping for better in his second round

Defending champion Tiger Woods lies four strokes off the lead after the opening round of the Australian Masters in Melbourne.

The world number two struggled with his putting as he shot an opening round of two-under 69 at the Victoria Golf Club.

"If I just could have holed a few more putts, it could been a really good round," said the American.

Australian trio Adam Bland, Alistair Presnell and Daniel Gaunt, lead after opening rounds of 65.

Woods, chasing his first victory since last year's win in Melbourne, carded three birdies and a bogey but missed several birdie putts which could have put him closer to the lead.

"I really played well, I hit a lot of good shots and gave myself a bunch of looks early for birdie and every putt was left a little bit shy," he added.

"I tried to be more committed coming in, to get the ball to the hole and past the hole but at nine I left it seven feet short, so I need to do a little bit more work on that.

"It could have easily been four, five, six under par but I'm right there, I'm only four back as of now."

Woods, who missed only two fairways, said the round was his best in terms of ball-striking since he started working on his swing under new coach Sean Foley.

"I've certainly not hit the ball like this in a first round. I hit it pretty good in China last week but not like this today," he said.

"I've hit the ball probably better in stretches for six, seven, eight holes, but nothing like this for the entire day."

The 34-year-old, who saw his 281-week spell as world number one ended by England's Lee Westwood last month, triumphed in the event last year before problems in his personal life forced him to take a four-month break from the game.

But Woods fared better than some of the other tournament top names.

Leading Australians Robert Allenby (73) and Geoff Ogilvy (72) were both over par, while Colombia's Camilo Villegas shot a level par 71 and Spain's Sergio Garcia struggled to a two-over 73.

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