BBC SPORT | Golf | Goosen makes early move

First round scores

Retief Goosen fired a bogey-free 65 to share the first round lead in the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational.

The South African heads the Washington state field alongside Japan's Toshi Izawa, who also went round in six under par.

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Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson and Darren Clarke are tied for third, one shot off the pace.

Justin Rose, Steve Lowery and Kenny Perry share sixth place on four-under.

I just had one bad swing on 17, and a couple of bad putts

Tiger Woods

But Tiger Woods - bidding to become the first player since Walter Hagen in the 1920s to win the title four years in succession - is just three off the lead after carding a 68.

Woods double-bogeyed the par-three 17th, but then birdied the 18th to keep the leaders within sight.

"I played solid all day," the world number one said.

"I just had one bad swing on 17, and a couple of bad putts."

Last week's US PGA winner, Rich Beem, never recovered from bogeying his second and third holes and finished with a three-over 74.

All eyes on Beem

For Goosen, the key to his scoring on Thursday was his putting.

"I have been playing well, but over the last few months, I don't really feel like I've been putting as well," the 2001 US Open champion said.

"Today, I struck the ball a lot more on line than I did the last few weeks, and gave myself more chances of it going in."

Japan's Izawa, who won five times on his home tour last season, was the early pace-setter, matching seven birdies with a single bogey.

Tiger Woods shows his disappointment with a double bogey
Tiger Woods is shadowing the leaders
Among those bracketed with Woods on 68 were Europeans Thomas Bjorn, Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood.

Westwood was particularly pleased to be finding form at last with the Ryder Cup less than a month away.

Once the fourth-ranked player in the world, he has slipped to 144 in the rankings.

"Nobody likes playing poorly," he said. "You want to take at least a decent game into the Ryder Cup.

"Hopefully, by the time the Ryder Cup comes around, my game will be in good shape."

Westwood's woes

Clarke's 66 came as a result of the Ulsterman adopting a more aggressive approach.

"I had a good think after seeing Rich Beem win the US PGA last week going for it and changed my attitude," said Clarke, who started with four straight birdies and finished with two more.

"A lot of guys tend to play the way Tiger plays and I got sucked into it as well.

"He's fantastic at it and it's why he's the world No 1, but I hate laying up 100 yards short of greens at par fives and I've decided I might as well have a go."

Leading first round scores (US unless stated)

65 Toshimitsu Izawa (Jpn), Retief Goosen (Rsa)
66 Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson Darren Clarke (Gbr)
67 Justin Rose (Gbr), Steve Lowery, Kenny Perry
68 Fred Funk, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Rocco Mediate, Lee Westwood (Gbr), Sergio Garcia (Spa), Chris DiMarco, Vijay Singh (Fij), Matt Gogel, Craig Perks (Nzl), Paul Azinger, Tiger Woods

Others:
71 Colin Montgomerie (Gbr)
72 Padraig Harrington (Ire), Graeme McDowell (Gbr)
73 Paul Lawrie (Gbr), Phillip Price (Gbr)


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