Friday 26 January 2018 08:54, UK
Tiger Woods began his latest comeback with a battling level-par 72 as Tony Finau ended the first day of the Farmers Insurance Open with a one-shot lead.
Woods recovered from a "rusty" start, making bogeys at two of the first five holes, but three birdies against one further dropped shot on the South Course at Torrey Pines ensured a respectable opening to his first official PGA Tour round for a year.
The 14-time major winner will start his second round seven shots adrift of Finau, who made nine birdies on the North Course in his impressive 65, while defending champion Jon Rahm returned a six-birdie 68 on the South.
All eyes were on the first tee at 10:40am local time as thousands lined the fairway to watch Woods strike his opening blow, although it wasn't the start he was hoping for as he pulled his drive into the left rough, gouged his second into a plugged lie in a greenside bunker and failed to get up-and-down for par.
Another errant drive into sand at the fifth resulted in another bogey, but he pulled one back with a birdie at the long sixth and followed a run of three pars with a three at the 10th after clipping a wedge to two feet.
Woods made a mess of the long 13th and lipped out from three feet to drop another shot, but he sent the fans wild at the 16th when he came within inches of holing his near-perfect six-iron to the 190-yard par-three.
Two cast-iron pars capped an encouraging round, which was four shots better than his scrappy opener on the South 12 months ago, and he will be confident of firing a sub-70 score on the North to get in for the weekend.
Finau got off to a hot start and made five birdies in an outward 32 before picking further shots at 10 and 13 to get to six under, although he then missed the green at the short 15th which cost him his second bogey of the day.
But the big-hitting American responded with two birdies over the last three holes to snatch the outright lead from Ted Potter Jr and Ryan Palmer, while Hunter Mahan made a welcome appearance at the top end of the leaderboard with a 68 on the South.
The former Ryder Cup star shares fourth with the ever-consistent Francesco Molinari and Rahm, who would replace Dustin Johnson as world No 1 with a successful defence of his title this week.
The red-hot Spaniard, fresh from his win at the CareerBuilder Challenge last week, was just one under through 12 holes after an erratic day on the greens, but the putts started dropping as he reeled off three birdies in four holes before parring safely in to stay at four under.
Justin Rose was frustrated at being unable to convert a number of good drives on the par-fives on the North Course, although the Englishman did sign for a three-under 69 along with Shane Lowry and Russell Knox.
Phil Mickelson, who has not won at Torrey Pines since clinching his third title back in 2001, opened with a 70 while Rickie Fowler failed to build on a flying start to his round on the North.
Fowler teed off at the 10th and birdied four of his first seven holes, but he gave one back at the 18th and then dropped three shots in five holes while not managing a birdie over the front nine to sign for a disappointing 72.
Former world No 1 Jason Day was forced to withdraw from Wednesday's pro-am due to a back injury, and the 2015 champion faces a tough task to make the cut after he struggled to a one-over 73.
