Tiger gets his PGA Tour season off to solid start

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Tiger Woods felt good about the start at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am until he looked at the leaderboard.

With six birdies, he opened with a 4-under 68 at Spyglass Hill.

With virtually no wind, and as gorgeous conditions as can be found on the Monterey Peninsula, he was far from the only player who was filling up his scorecard with birdies.

Dustin Johnson, with a small measure of revenge on the third hole at Pebble Beach, made two eagles and saw a third chance at eagle land on the edge of the cup. He wound up with a 9-under 63. Former U.S. Amateur champion Danny Lee also made two eagles at Pebble for a 63.

Over at Monterey Peninsula, Charlie Wi had an outside chance at 59 without even knowing it. Wi wasn't aware the Shore Course was a par 70, so being 8 under through 13 holes didn't get his attention. He made one birdie the rest of the way for a 9-under 61.

They were atop the leaderboard, followed by a record-tying performance by Ken Duke — 28 on the back nine a Pebble — that gave him a 64, along with PGA Tour rookie Brian Harman.

It was a perfect day for scenery, and for scoring.

"Especially on courses like this, I can't get too far behind the lead," Woods said. "I know there is some colder weather coming in, but I've got to take advantage of this. The guys are just tearing the course apart with no wind. I think we saw two at 9 (under), two at 8 and a couple of guys at 7. So you've got to take advantage of it.

"Hopefully, in the next two days I can get it going," he said.

Johnson is turning into his generation's "Prince of Pebble." He won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in consecutive years, and then had a three-shot lead at Pebble in the U.S. Open two years ago until he shot 82 in the final round. On the third hole of that round, he hit driver left into the bushes for a lost ball and made double bogey.

On Thursday, he smashed a driver nearly 340 yards over the trees to just short of the green, setting up eagle. Even now, he still thinks about that tee shot in the U.S. Open. Walking off the tee, he said to caddie Bobby Brown, "I could have used that in the U.S. Open."

"Walking off that hole, I told Bob, 'This hole owes me a few more than just that one.'"