Woods opens with birdie on damaged PGA course

Tiger Woods began his quest for a 15th major title with a birdie at the par-4 10th on Thursday at the 93rd PGA Championship, where damaged Atlanta Athletic Club greens had become a concern. Former world number one Woods suffered left leg injuries in April at the Masters and since then had not played a full competitive round until last week. "I've been away from the game for a while but I'm starting to get the feel of hitting shots and how far the ball is going and just getting more and more target awareness that comes from just playing in tournament golf," Woods said. The 35-year-old is chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus but he has not won a major crown since the 2008 US Open and has not won any event since the his infamous sex scandal began to unravel in November of 2009. Woods, who followed his birdie with a par at the 11th hole, is playing with boyhood pal Bryon Bell as his caddie after firing Steve Williams last month. Williams is now the bagman for Australian Adam Scott. England's Ross Fisher, who also began off the 10th tee, opened with back-to-back birdies to share the early lead at 2-under par along with Americans Stewart Cink, Nick Watney and Gary Woodland. World number one Luke Donald, fellow Englishman Brian Davis and Davis Love, the 2012 US Ryder Cup captain playing alongside Woods, were also on one-under among the early starters. A growing concern for organisers was the damage to the 14th and 17th greens caused Wednesday night when mower brushes stuck to grass at the edges of those greens, requiring workers to address damage to the turf in those areas. Even after groundkeepers repaired the areas, officials declared they would be treated as ground under repair for the lie of the ball, a major blemish on the event after years of renovating the course in order to stage it. Atlanta Athletic Club also hosted the PGA Championship in 2001, when American David Toms fired a 15-under 265, the lowest 72-hole score in major championship history. The feature pairing of the year's reigning major champions will tee off in the afternoon. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, the US Open winner, will start at 1:45 with countryman Darren Clarke, who won last month's British Open, and South African Charl Schwartzel, who won the Masters in April. "This course really suits my game," McIlroy said. "I can't wait to get going." McIlroy shared third in both his prior PGA Championship starts. World number two Lee Westwood of England, Masters and US Open runner-up Jason Day of Australia and American Matt Kuchar will be in the group behind the major champions. No American has won a major since Phil Mickelson at last year's Masters, a record six-major drought. The past 12 majors have been won by 12 different players with first-time major champions having taken the past six and nine of the last 10.