Adam Scott Leads at WGC Bridgestone, Firestone Golf Course

(AHN) Steve Williams is used to seeing great rounds at Firestone Country Club. He’s seen plenty of them as the caddie for his former boss, Tiger Woods.

Williams found life after Woods Thursday as he watched his new player, Adam Scott, blaze his way to an eight-under par 62, one shot off the course record held by Woods and Jose Maria Olazabal, to take the lead at the WGC Bridgestone.

Scott and fellow Aussie Jason Day, who both finished runnerup at the Masters, had magnificent starts. Day put up a 63 while Nick Watney’s 65 left him three off Scott’s torrid pace.

Tiger Woods’ much-anticipated return to golf yielded a two-under par 68 that left him tied for 18th with 13 others players on a day made for low rounds.

“You gotta have hardly any wind and the course was soft,” is how Scott explained the conditions that were made for low rounds. “I played really well for the first 15 holes.” As for having Williams on his bag, Scott simply proclaimed: “He’s got me super fired up. He pushes me.”

Scott turned in 32, three-under par then went to work on the back nine. He birdied the 10th then made three straight starting at the 13th hole. He got a surprise birdie at the 17th when he holed a 25-foot putt from the front of the green.

Day, even though he played well, didn’t think his round was that exciting. “I felt like it was a boring kind of game,” he explained. “It was down the middle, on the green and every two or three holes was a birdie.”

Rory Sabbatini and Stewart Cink were two of nine players to finish with 66s. Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood headed a group of five at 67.

Woods along with U.S. Open champ Rory McIlroy and world’s no. 1 Luke Donald, were three of the 14 players in with 68s. McIlroy announced earliler this week that he will most likely play the PGA Tour next season. “Ninety-five percent of me want to come over here,” he said.

For Woods, it was a decent showing. He held himself together on the front nine with three key par saving putts, including a 14-footer at the third then a seven-footer at the eighth. At the ninth hole he jarred a par-saver from 18 feet to turn in even par.

Woods got his first birdie in four months at the 10th hole from five feet then added another at the 11th from seven feet. His only bogey of the day came at the 12th when he failed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker. He got his final birdie with a nice putt at the par five 16th.

“Felt good,” Woods said afterward, as he abandoned steel spikes on his shoes in favor of an athletic-style shoe with soft spikes. “I hit the ball really flush. The hardest part was controlling my distances.” Overall, he was happy saying, “As my playing partner Darren (Clarke) would say, I hit some proper shots out there.”

Clarke did not fare as well as Woods, in fact, it was a pretty bad day for the new Open champion as he finished with 77, tied for dead last. A total of 39 players in the 76-man field broke par in the first round.