wgc day one

Tiger Woods showed signs of life during his comeback round at the World Golf Championships at Akron, Ohio with a classy 68, two under.

But it was Aussie Adam Scott who lit up the leaderboard with a phenomenal 62 to end the day eight under. He used his new caddie – Tiger’s ex-bagman Steve Williams – and his broomhandle putter to great effect as he rolled in birdie after birdie.

He said: “I’m hitting the ball well and I feel really confident on the greens. It was green light and let’s attack.”

It was a good day for the Aussies with Jason Day finishing just one behind Scott on seven under.

Lee Westwood shot a solid 67 to end three under while Luke Donald was just one shot back, tied 18th at two under with a whole host of players.

Rory McIlroy recovered from a shaky start to end up on two under, while Justin Rose and Ian Poulter battled their way round in 71, one over.

Open champion Darren Clarke was all over the place around the Firestone course. He was three over after seven but then holed his second shot on the par-4 8th for an unlikely eagle.

But, just as it looked like he might turn things round, the wheels fell well and truly off The Open champion’s wagon. He bogeyed 10 and 11, before double bogeying the par-5 16th. He ended up seven over and in joint-last place.

Round two starts later today and a lot of eyes will be on Tiger to see if he can build on his solid start and Adam Scott to see if his putting can hold up under pressure.