Zozo Championship: Tiger Woods overcomes 'very ugly start,' shares lead after opening 64

Tiger Woods delivered a masterclass Thursday as the 15-time major champion earned a share of the lead after round one at the Zozo Championship.

A fan favorite, Woods rode a birdie spree to card a stunning 6-under-par 64 and join Gary Woodland atop the leaderboard in the first official PGA Tour tournament held in Japan.

Woods endured a nightmare start at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, where the former world No. 1 found water after his opening tee shot.

Another shot went into the trees as the 2019 Masters champion was left reeling at 3 over through just three holes in Inzai, Chiba.

However, Woods, who underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee in August to repair minor cartilage damage, produced a remarkable recovery, making nine birdies over the ensuing 15 holes to catapult himself up the standings.

“I certainly was not expecting to shoot 6 under after that start,” Woods said following his career-low season-opening round. “That was a very ugly start.

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“To be able to flip it like that, I felt if I could get to under par for that, I figure most of the guys would be about 2, 3 under par with the wind blowing as hard as it was today, that I wouldn’t be that far behind. It flipped and I got hot and made a bunch of putts.”

Woods and Woodland, a fellow American, held a one-shot lead over Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who birdied the last to reduce the deficit heading into Day 2 of the inaugural event, while Daniel Berger, Sung Kang and Ryan Palmer were tied at 3 under.

Justin Thomas – fresh off his CJ Cup triumph in South Korea last week – posted an even-par 70.

Thomas had three birdies and as many bogeys to be in an eight-way tie for 25th, alongside the likes of Sergio Garcia and Danny Lee.

It was a tough start for four-time major winner and FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy, who shot a 72 to be eight shots off the pace, while Jason Day was a stroke worse off at 3 over and Jordan Spieth stood 4 over.