AKRON, Ohio: Jim Furyk finally made some birdies — a lot of them — for a 7-under 63 to take the lead Thursday in the Bridgestone Invitational.
On a warm day with little wind, Furyk took advantage of the pristine conditions at Firestone to build a two-shot lead over Lee Slattery of England after one round of this World Golf Championship.
Tiger Woods, a seven-time winner at Firestone, looked as if he might be part of the leaderboard until his last six holes. He had to lay up with his third shot on a par 5 and three-putted from 25 feet on the 18th for an even-par 70.
Defending champion Adam Scott, in his first tournament since losing a late lead in the British Open, four-putted from just inside 10 feet and had 71.
Luke Donald, the world's No. 1 player, and Masters champion Bubba Watson were among those at 66. Thirty players in the 78-man field at this World Golf Championship managed to break par.
Woods was not among them. It was his second-worst start at Firestone. The other was a 74 in 2010, his last week without a swing coach.
"I averaged about four putts per hole, so it was a great day on the greens," said Woods, who lost his touch on the greens but at least kept his sarcasm.
Since missing out on a chance to win the U.S. Open, Furyk has tied for 34th in two tournaments and missed two cuts, including last week in Canada. For a guy who is 15th in the Ryder Cup standings — even a win this week would not make him eligible for the U.S. team — this was no time to be stuck in neutral.
So when he had another weekend off after rounds of 70-70 at the Canadian Open, he flew home for three days.
"More than anything I needed a little time to clear my head," Furyk said. "It wasn't anything that was going wrong, (but) why I wasn't playing better. I just felt like I needed to come in here and quit concentrating on trying to be so mechanically sound and just go play some golf and try to score and get the ball in the hole a little bit. It worked today. I did a lot better job of scoring.
"It's been a while since I made seven birdies and an eagle in a round," he said. "So it was a lot of fun."
Phil Mickelson had a 71, while British Open champion Ernie Els had a 73 on a day when the average was 70.33 — on the low side for Firestone.
The conditions could not have been more ideal with sunshine, heat and very little wind, along with carpet for fairways and smooth greens. It showed in some of the tee shots on the South Course — 58 drives of at least 350 yards, and a 427-yarder by Branden Grace of South Africa — and mostly in the scoring
Grace, who along with Woods is the only player with three wins this year, crushed a tee shot into the speed slot on the 656-yard 16th hole that left him only 222 yards to the hole. One problem.
"It was a reasonable opportunity," Grace said. "But I was right between clubs. I could either thump a 3-iron or hit my rescue, and going just over the back of that green and chipping back is not the best."
So he laid up with a gap wedge, and then hit another gap wedge just over the back of the green, the very place where he feared his hybrid might go. He settled for par.
"Tiger and I were talking about it going up the 17th," Grace said. "It's a pity you hit a great drive and go gap wedge, gap wedge. It doesn't make sense."
Firestone always allows for extra distance when it's dry and the fairways are running fast. But it reached the point that when Furyk was told he hit seven drives over 300 yards, he said, "That's it?"
"I never crack the top 150 in driving distance on tour," Furyk said. "If all of a sudden, out of all the guys that played today, I was 30th in today's field, I would say I was a lot longer than normal. But if I end up being — was there 80 guys in the field, 78? If I was 63rd today, I really wouldn't worry about it."
He was 59th.
"It was hot," Furyk said. "The ball is going pretty far and the ground is quite firm. Statistically, it'll probably look pretty good."
What looked superb was the 63 on his card, on a course he loves and has twice come within a shot of either winning or getting into a playoff.
