Tiger shoots best round of 2015 at The Greenbrier Classic

Tiger Woods carded seven birdies and fired a 4-under-par 66 on Thursday in the first round of The Greenbrier Classic at The Old White TPC at Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It was his lowest score on the PGA TOUR since the WGC-Cadillac Championship in 2014 when he also shot 66.

Woods birdied the last three holes — the first time he accomplished that since the 2010 U.S. Open — and was tied for eighth, four shots behind clubhouse leader Scott Langley, when he finished his round.

“I was trying to get it to 3-under,” Tiger said. “To pull off the hat trick coming home was nice.”

Playing in only his 17th round of the year, Tiger broke 70 for just the third time and the first time since the third round of the Masters Tournament. This success came after missing the cut at the U.S. Open two weeks ago at Chambers Bay in Washington.

“I felt like I wasn’t that far away,” Woods said. “I know people think I’m crazy for saying that, but I just felt like I wasn’t that far. I just had to make a couple little tweaks, and I felt like I pulled that off.”

An early back-nine starter with Steve Stricker and David Lingmerth, Woods was solid for most of the round, hitting 10 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens and used 25 putts. His lone hiccup was a double bogey on the par-4 sixth hole.

Playing in warm, overcast conditions, Tiger started with two pars, then birdied the 568-yard, par-5 12th. After a big drive, he knocked a fairway wood into the front-left bunker, blasted to five feet and made the putt.

Woods followed with two more pars and posted his second birdie of the round at the 217-yard, par-3 15th, where he nestled his tee shot six feet from the cup. At the 444-yard, par-4 16th, Tiger flagged his approach shot three feet from the hole and made the birdie putt.

Woods dropped a stroke at the 616-yard, par-5 17th, where he pushed his drive into the water hazard in the right, took a drop and wound up lipping out a 15-foot putt for par. He almost got it back at the par-4 18th hole, but his 15-foot birdie attempt burned the edge of the cup and he made the turn in 2-under 34.

After a par at the first hole, Tiger nailed a 20-foot uphill birdie putt at the 488-yard, par-4 second. He made a nice up-and-down from behind the green at the par-3 third and two-putted the par-4 fourth from 15 feet.

At the short par-4 fifth, Woods flagged his approach shot five feet from the pin but was unable to convert. Tiger ran into trouble at the 471-yard, sixth hole, where he hooked his drive into the rough behind a tree, hit the tree with his second shot and the ball caromed into a bunker. From there, he bladed his long explosion shot over the green and onto the next tee, left a flop shot short of the green, then pitched to four feet and salvaged a double bogey.

But Woods rebounded quickly. After pushing a 3-wood into the right rough at the 430-yard, par-4 seventh, he hit a beautiful second shot that caught the contour of the green perfectly and settled three feet from the hole for a short birdie.

At the 234-yard, par-3 eighth, Tiger flushed his tee shot about 15 feet behind the cup and poured in the birdie putt. He capped the round in style at the 404-yard, par-4 ninth, draining an uphill 15-foot putt.

Woods said the double bogey made him determined to finish strong.

“I’m not going to lose this round,” he said. “I’m playing too well.”

Tiger played the four par-3s in 2-under.

Woods draws a late start on Friday. He is scheduled to begin second-round play on the first tee at 1:10 p.m. ET with Stricker and Lingmerth.