Tiger Woods, who lost his world number one ranking here a year ago, fired a six-under par 65 on Friday to seize the lead after the first round of the 5.5 million-dollar PGA Deutsche Bank Championship.
A bogey-free opening round by Woods left him one stroke ahead of fellow Americans Billy Andrade, Briny Baird and Steve Lowery as well as Paraguay's Carlos Franco.
"It's not like I go out there and I hit the ball just unbelievable and putt unbelievable to shoot these scores," Woods said. "I'm just playing solid golf. This is the way I feel I can play every day."
Woods saw his streak of 264 weeks atop the world rankings end a year ago when Fiji's Vijay Singh beat him in a head-to-head final round duel. Woods settled for a share of second at an event he has not won in two tries.
Since then, Woods has won the Masters and British Open and reclaimed the top ranking, leaving no doubt he is the man to beat here this week as no other member of the top 10 showed up to challenge him.
Woods, who has made the most of swing changes completed last year, saw a streak of 142 events in the money snapped in May at the Byron Nelson Championship, but since then has finished no worse than fourth in seven events.
"I don't feel like I'm on a roll at all. I feel like this is the way I should play every day," Woods said. "That's why I made the changes in my golf swing, so I would be consistent day in and day out."
Woods began on the 10th tee and birdied the 15th and 18th holes, then had a pair of back-to-back birdies and almost birdied the par-5 ninth, three-putting to settle for par and a one-stroke edge.
"I hit the ball decent. I didn't hit it great but I hit it good enough and really hit my irons well," Woods said. "Made some nice putts on the back nine for birdie, as well as for par. Turned out to be a really nice day."
Baird, 138th on the money list, is trying to crack the top 125 to keep his tour playing rights for next season. He opened with a 30-foot birdie putt at the 10th and began a run of four birdies in a row at the 18th hole.
"I played well, fairways, greens, made some putts," Baird said. "You think about (the money list) but I'm not overstressed about it. If you play well, things take care of themselves."
Franco, playing alongside Woods, fired eight birdies but also made three bogeys.