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Tiger is grouped with Craig Parry and defending champion Rod Pampling.
The top-ranked Woods, playing in Australia for the first time since the 1998 Presidents Cup, recorded seven birdies and one bogey. Playing in front of a sellout crowd of more than 20,000 that included his mother, Kultida, Woods hit 17 of 18 greens and 12 of 14 fairways in regulation.
"You play for what it's giving you," he said afterward. "I didn't have to change my game plan on any hole."
An early 10th-hole starter with Craig Parry and Rod Pampling, Woods plodded his way around the sandbelt course, hitting mostly 3-woods off the tee to avoid punishing bunkers. He played the three par-5s in 3-under and missed two birdie putts inside 10 feet.
"My iron game certainly wasn't sharp," said Woods. "I didn't take on some of the pins, and others were just bad shots."
Woods posted birdies at the par-5 12th and 14th holes. He parred the last four holes to make the turn in 2-under 34.
On the front nine, Woods birdied the par-5 first hole then added another at the par-4 fourth. After a par at No. 5, he reeled off three consecutive birdies.
At the 294-yard, par-4 sixth, Woods hit a 3-wood just short of the green and hit a perfectly executed pitch shot within a foot of the hole. After a poor drive at the par-4 seventh, he hit a towering 8-iron over, trees and the ball finished 20 feet left of the hole, Woods pouring in the putt. A nice 8-iron approach at the par-3 eighth stopped 20 feet left of the cup, and he converted for his third birdie in a row.
Woods pulled his drive into an old tea tree at the par-4 ninth. He did well to chop the ball out into left rough, punched his third shot 40 feet from the hole and two-putted for his lone bogey of the round.
On Friday, Woods will be a late starter off the first tee with Parry and Pampling, getting underway at 8:20 p.m. ET Thursday night.