Watson opens with 64; Tiger struggles at Firestone

AKRON, Ohio (AP) - Bubba Watson sure didn't play as though it was his first time to Firestone.

Tiger Woods looked as though he had never seen it before.

Watson made his debut in the Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday by running off four straight birdies on the back nine and making a long putt on the final hole for a 6-under 64 and a two-shot lead over a group that included Masters champion Phil Mickelson and U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.

The shocker was Woods.

On the course where he has won a PGA Tour record seven times, Woods opened with bogeys on the two easiest holes at Firestone and wound up with his highest score ever on the South Course, a 4-over 74 that put him 10 shots behind.

If that wasn't bad enough, a fan said to Woods on his way to the scoring trailer, "You're washed up, Tiger. Give it up."

The world's No. 1 player looked that way at times.

"Just because I like the golf course doesn't mean I'm going to play well on it," Woods said. "You still have to execute, and I didn't do that. I did not execute the shots that I wanted to execute, didn't shape the ball the way I wanted to shape it, and certainly did not putt well."

Two drives into the trees. Two shots to get out of a bunker. Putts that really didn't scare the hole. When he rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole, he turned in two directions and bowed to the gallery.

Woods has never finished lower than fifth on this golf course. He had never shot higher than 72 in his 44 previous rounds at Firestone. And he had nine consecutive rounds at par or better until Thursday.

"Only thing I did good is I kept my patience out there," Woods said.

Even more alarming for Woods is that the conditions were ideal for low scoring, although Firestone is not the kind of track where anyone should expect a 59.

"It was a day you could be aggressive if you played better than I did," Woods said.

Watson did.

So did McDowell, who finished with four straight birdies for a 66. Mickelson was trying to keep his momentum with a par toward the end of his round when he hit a flop shot that dropped in for birdie on the sixth, and then he added two birdies on his last three holes.

Adam Scott, who played bogey-free, and Kenny Perry also were at 66. The group at 67 included Jeff Overton, who finished second last week at the Greenbrier when Stuart Appleby closed with a 59.

Twenty-five players from the 81-man field broke par.

Watson is playing only his second World Golf Championship, having qualified in June by winning the Travelers Championship for his first PGA Tour victory. He sobbed on the 18th green that day in paying tribute to his father, who is battling throat cancer, and Watson is coming off a two-week vacation that included time at his lake house with his family.

"It's tough to make shots around this golf course," Watson said. "I knew it was going to be tough, but today, I just putted really well, hit good iron shots and made it look a little bit easy. But we're not done yet."

It's an impressive cast right behind him.

Mickelson, long fascinated by distance, decided at the urging of swing coach Butch Harmon to shorten the shaft in his driver to 44 inches. Whether he lost distance was of little importance, for Lefty was thrilled to see the ball go straighter.

This is his sixth tournament with a chance to go to No. 1 in the world, and he has not started this well in the other events. Mickelson could replace Woods at No. 1 by finishing as low as fourth - Woods would have to finish out of the top 44, which looks possible.

Of all the birdies Mickelson made down the stretch, it was the flop shot that gave him the biggest boost.

"It was a good one," Mickelson said. "There were some at Augusta that I kind of remember a little more fondly than Thursday here in Akron, but that was a good one. I thought with the greens being soft, I had a decent lie, and it wasn't a difficult one to get up-and-down. But I certainly was fortunate for it to go in."

While Mickelson went for the shorter driver, McDowell put a longer driver in play and figures he picked up 15 yards. But it was the shortest stick in his bag - the putter - that carried him at the end. He holed birdie putts of 12 feet on the 15th and 16th, made a 15-foot putt from the fringe on the 17th and finished with one last birdie from 10 feet.

"It's probably the best golf I've played since Pebble Beach," McDowell said.

All the attention that comes with winning a U.S. Open for his first major has been difficult, so this week was a nice reprieve. He is back in America with the world's best player. And at Firestone, "Tiger Woods' show is in town, so we'll have him in the limelight."

For Woods, it was an unwelcome spotlight.

He has won seven times in his last nine starts at Firestone. But after Thursday, his goal was to get back to even par and try to make up ground from there. He was tied for 70th. Only eight players shot a higher score.

"Today was not indicative of how I've been playing," Woods said.

Especially not at Firestone.