Tiger Woods produced a brilliant fightback to claim a share of the lead after the first round of the inaugural Zozo Championship in Japan.
Woods was three over par after three holes at Narashino Country Club, but played the remaining 15 holes in nine under par to card an opening 64, which was matched by US Open champion Gary Woodland.
Home favourite Hideki Matsuyama is a shot off the lead following a 65, but world number two Rory McIlroy is eight strokes off the pace after struggling to a 72.
After the first round of the @zozochamp: 1. @TigerWoods (-6)1. @GaryWoodland 3. Hideki Matsuyama (-5)4. @DanielBerger59 (-4)4. Sung Kang 4. @RyanPalmerPGA Full leaderboard: https://t.co/XwXLiQBqAl pic.twitter.com/ncCwb1RFkH — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 24, 2019
Woods began his round on the back nine and got off to a nightmare start as he pulled his drive on the 10th into the water to make the first of three consecutive bogeys.
The 15-time major winner steadied the ship with a par on the 13th before posting a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th and picked up another shot on the 18th to reach the turn in one under.
Woods made his second hat-trick of birdies from the third and further birdies on the seventh and ninth completed an inward nine of 29 to boost his chances of claiming the 82nd PGA Tour title of his career, equalling the record of Sam Snead.
"I was just trying to turn it to even par at the turn, that's basically my goal, and I was able to squeeze one more out of it and lo and behold I had the easier side I'm going to and hopefully I can squeeze a couple more out of it and I did a couple more better than that, which was nice," Woods told the Golf Channel.
✔️ Ninth birdie of the day✔️ Opening round 64✔️ Leader by two pic.twitter.com/be3VWPKnzb — GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) October 24, 2019
"It's always nice to get off to a quick start and then figure it out from there, but that start I got off to wasn't very good.
"I hit bad shot after bad shot after bad shot and then a three-wiggle (three-putt) at 12 and next thing you knew things aren't looking very good.
"After the start the ball-striking was better, the putting was really good. It was one of the stranger rounds I've experienced in a while. It seems like every putt I made, other than the one at seven, was left to right. It was crazy."
Bad weather is forecast for the second round on Friday and Woods is anticipating some disruption to play for the remainder of the first PGA Tour event to be staged in Japan.
One of two players without a bogey on Thursday.@GaryWoodland grabs a share of the first-round lead.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/rc21MyzZbc — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 24, 2019
"It's going to be sloppy and tough for us tomorrow morning before the storm gets in and I think we're probably going to get a little wet, and then it's going to be a grind on the weekend," the 43-year-old added.
"It's going to be a lot of golf on the weekend for all of us and probably be close to 54 holes or so for some of the guys on the weekend. It will be a long couple of days for us."
England's Paul Casey leads the European challenge on one under par, with Sergio Garcia a shot further back and Open champion Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and Ian Poulter all shooting one over.
McIlroy was one under par after 10 holes but bogeyed the 11th, double-bogeyed the next and dropped another shot on the 16th before ending the day with a birdie on the 18th.
Fellow Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell props up the 78-man field after slumping to an 11-over-par 81 which included a back nine of 45.
