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Given his choice, Tiger Woods likes to see a golf course as difficult as possible.
It didn't take long to figure out that wouldn't be the case yesterday at the Tour Championship, the final playoff event for the FedEx Cup that felt more like preseason considering the marshmallow conditions at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Woods' wedge to the first green left more of a crater than a pitch mark. And after nearly making an ace on the sixth hole for his fourth birdie of the rain-softened round, the scoreboard showed Tim Clark already in, tying the course record with an 8-under par 62.
Clark was among only 10 players who finished the first round because of a 3-hour storm delay. Only five players were over par when the round was suspended by darkness, none worse than 1 over.
Clark finished the round with a one-shot advantage over British Open champion Padraig Harrington.
Woods, who can capture the FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize with a victory at the Tour Championship, was at 4 under through 11 holes and could face the smoothness of greens that Clark and Harrington experienced when play resumes at 8 a.m. today.
"I made a couple putts - I don't know how," Woods said. "I hit them up there and they bounced all over the place and somehow went in."
In another tournament:
* England's Lee Westwood matched his career best with an 11-under 61 to take the first-round lead in the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Pulheim, Germany. *
