Henrik Stenson took advantage of Tiger Woods' miserable day to take the lead in the PGA Tour Championship, holding a one-shot lead over 2013 Masters winner Adam Scott.
Stenson - who has been playing with a sore wrist and limiting his practice time - started out hot, landing five birdies out of his first seven holes, ending his day with two more birdies over his last four holes before finishing 6-under-par 64 at East Lake Golf Club.
"I really knew I had to be in a good frame of mind coming out here if I wanted to play good golf this week. As some of you noticed, I wasn't that on Monday when I finished up in Chicago," said Stenson, who smashed his club in a fit of anger on the last hole of last week's BMW Championship. "It was a good turnaround mentally. I stayed very level-headed, kept the head on, on both myself and drivers, and played a great round of golf."
Scott, who finished second on the leaderboard, ran six birdies in seven holes on the back nine despite struggling earlier in the day.
"It was a tale of two nines, there's no doubt," said Scott. "I missed three greens with wedges on the front nine and wasted all my chances to score. I hit two good shots into 10 and rolled a putt in, which calmed me down. And they I just went and played, and played the way I felt I could."
Woods had the opposite type of day compared to Scott and Stenson, shooting a 3-over-par 73 and failing to earn a birdie in a round for the first since the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Woods ended the day in 29th place out of a 30-man field and fell to third place in the Fed Ex Cup standings.
"He didn't make a birdie out there. That's very unusual," said Stenson in regards to Woods - who refused to talk to media after the opening round. "He didn't make a birdie out there. That's very unusual. I wouldn't say he was playing bad. He missed a couple of times in the wrong spot. I mean, if you're not making any birdies, then it's going to be a bad day, simple as that. On a good day, you might make one or two up-and-downs and then roll a couple in. We know how small the margins are. He could have been 2-under or 1-under with the same play if you just take your opportunities."
Despite the bad start, Woods, along with the other top five golfers ranked prior to the start of Round 1, which include Stenson (playing in his first Tour Championship), Scott, (finished 3rd for the day), Zach Johnson (tied for 14th place with a 69) and Matt Kuchar (tied for 14th with a 69) - can outright win the FedEx Cup if they win this weekend.
"[Woods] didn't have the best of days, and he's going to fight hard to try to come back into the tournament," said Stenson. "It's still a long way to go, but it's always nice to perform the way I did when you're playing with the world's best player."
Live Television Coverage
The 2013 PGA Tour Championship coverage can be seen on the Golf Channel with Friday coverage beginning at 1 p.m. EST.
Live Stream (Online)
Live stream coverage can be seen on PGATour.com.
Live Stream (audio)
Live stream coverage can be heard here.
Live Leaderboard
The official leaderboard for the tournament can be found here.
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