Golf: Woods well-placed at TPC

Coming off the worst performance of his career, Tiger Woods kept his game together at the Players Championship today and posted a competitive 2-under-par opening round of 70.

Woods made his only bogey of the round on the final hole.

J.B. Holmes and Australia's Robert Allenby shared the tournament lead at 6-under 66 after the opening round at the TPC Sawgrass.

Holmes and Allenby were a stroke ahead of eight players, including England's Lee Westwood and 49-year-old Kenny Perry. In muggy conditions with only a swirling breeze late in the day, 36 players broke 70, the most for the opening round of this tournament since 1994.

"It was a fun day, one of those rounds where everything was going pretty good," said Holmes, who played bogey-free and only once came close to making a bogey. "It's kind of one of those rounds where it's not easy, but it felt pretty easy."

Allenby played in the afternoon, when the breeze kicked up, and only had one lapse with a three-putt on the par-3 eighth.

Conditions were perfect for low scoring, and the Stadium Course allows for that with reachable par 5s and a few hole locations in areas that could be attacked.

"Greens were a bit slow out there, definitely quite soft after the rain that we've had the last couple of days," Allenby said. "It definitely made it very accessible, some of those flags. I'm happy with the start, just happy to be amongst it."

Francesco Molinari of Italy had a chance to join the leaders until he chopped up the par-5 ninth hole for a bogey and joined the large group at 68. Those at 69 included Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh, along with Davis Love III, who showed that even a benign Sawgrass still has some bite. He was tied for the lead until making bogeys on the last three holes.

Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who has a chance to be No. 1 in the world for the first time with a victory and Woods finishing out of the top five, didn't play his best but still managed a 70.

"Shooting 70 today isn't the round that you want," Mickelson said. "We came out in perfect conditions. There wasn't much wind, the greens were receptive, and there were a lot of low scores. But the reason I think this was a good day for me is I just didn't have it. So tomorrow if I can come out and get hot and shoot something in the mid-60s, I can get back in the tournament."

That usually isn't a problem for Woods, although last week at Quail Hollow raised several questions about whether his head was in the game with so much going on in his personal life. Woods had his second-highest round (79) and the worst 36-hole score (153) of his career to miss the cut by eight shots.

Then came practice rounds that didn't look much better.

"I've felt like I've done some good work this week, even though reports are I was hitting all over the lot," Woods said. "But I was working on a few things. I was very comfortable with what I was working toward, and I was very excited about what was happening. It was just a matter of doing it in competition. And I did it today."

A few pars saved the day - one after a hooked tee shot into the trees, another when he fanned a shot to the right into the bunker on No. 4, then made an 8-foot par putt after hitting another bunker.

And nothing looked worse than a 3-wood that he popped up on No. 7, barely reaching the fairway and having to hit a 5-wood for his second shot on a par 4. He got up-and-down for par, and two holes later, gave a light but meaningful fist pump when he hit 5-wood to a tucked green on the par-5 ninth to 18 feet for a two-putt birdie.

LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES:

66: J.B. Holmes, Robert Allenby

67: Jason Bohn, Ben Crane, Heath Slocum, Luke Donald, Ryuji Imada, Kenny Perry, Ryan Moore, Lee Westwood

68: Charley Hoffman, Tim Clark, Troy Matteson, Matt Kuchar, J.J. Henry, Bo Van Pelt, John Rollins, Bill Haas, Francesco Molinari, Scott McCarron

69: Alex Prugh, Woody Austin, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Henrik Stenson, Andres Romero, Paul Goydos, Ross Fisher, Alex Cejka, Kevin Stadler, Davis Love III, Nick Watney, K.J. Choi, Sergio Garcia, Boo Weekley, Fredrik Jacobson

70: Martin Kaymer, Adam Scott, Stephen Ames, Camilo Villegas, Phil Mickelson, Brian Gay, Zach Johnson, Chris Stroud, Charlie Wi, John Merrick, Bob Estes, Lee Janzen, Bill Lunde, Oliver Wilson, John Senden, Angel Cabrera, Y.E. Yang, Sean O'Hair, TIGER WOODS, Hunter Mahan, Lucas Glover, Greg Chalmers, Jeff Overton, James Nitties, Brendon de Jonge

- AP