Woods one-under through nine holes at Torrey

LA JOLLA: Tiger Woods, seeking a strong finish to his first US PGA Tour event in a year, nabbed three birdies in his first nine holes Sunday at the Farmers Insurance Open.

For the first time all week, the former world number one put his opening tee shot in the fairway en route to a par on the 10th hole of Torrey Pines' South Course, where Woods's eight titles include his 14th and most recent major victory at the 2008 US Open.

Although Woods would hit just two fairways in his first nine holes, his misses weren't as wild as those of Friday and Saturday, and solid putting again kept his round on track.

A birdie chance at 13 went begging when an over-eager fan yelled out as Woods stroked his 10-footer. But Woods, clearly angry, shook it off to roll in a 12-footer for birdie at 14.

That launched a sequence of birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie, with Woods rolling in a five-footer at the 18th to move to one-under for the day and four-under for the tournament.

As Woods made the turn, overnight leader Alex Noren of Sweden parred the first to remain at 11-under, with Ryan Palmer and J.B. Holmes one stroke back.

Defending champion Jon Rahm's bid for a repeat title that would see him supplant Dustin Johnson atop the world rankings took a hit with two early bogeys that left the Spaniard six adrift through four holes.