Tiger Woods outshone by Southport’s Tommy Fleetwood in opening round of first FedEx Cup play-off

Tiger Woods outshone by Southport’s Tommy Fleetwood in opening round of first FedEx Cup play-off.

Tommy Fleetwood outshone playing partner Tiger Woods to sit one shot off the lead after the opening round of the first FedEx Cup play-off event in New Jersey.

Englishman Fleetwood carded an opening four-under-par 67 in The Northern Trust at Ridgewood Country Club to lie one behind four men on five under, with Woods battling to a level-par 71.

Starting from the ninth due to the layout of the composite course, Fleetwood birdied the 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th to cover the back nine in 32 and picked up another shot on the fourth before dropping his only shot of the day following an errant drive on the seventh.

“I’ve not swung it great in practice and was a little scrappy early on but holed some great putts in my first 10 holes and then it kind of dried up a bit on the front nine, our back nine,” Fleetwood said.

“Then I started playing better so overall, on a course where the scoring seems okay today but if you’re hitting it out of position it’s not that easy, I’m happy with the start.

“It’s cool being in the FedEx. I had goals at the start of the year when I knew this was my first year with full status on the PGA Tour and it’s really nice to be a part of it. Coming towards the end of the season it’s a good time to be in form if you can get there.”

The overall winner of the FedEx Cup title wins a bonus of USD10 million – a feat Woods is the only player to achieve more than once, in 2007 and 2009.

The 42-year-old, who is appearing in the play-offs for the first time in five years, carded two birdies and two bogeys in his first start since finishing runner-up to Brooks Koepka in the US PGA Championship.

Koepka, world number one Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama and Paul Casey were among the players to match Fleetwood’s 67 to lie a shot behind leaders Kevin Tway, Vaughn Taylor, Sean O’Hair and Jamie Lovemark.

“It felt good to come back and play as well as I did,” three-time major winner Koepka said. “I’m pretty pleased with it. My iron play is really solid and I’m making the putts you need to make so I just need to keep grinding away.”

Phil Mickelson produced some of his trademark escapology to card a three-under-par 68, while Ian Coulter, Justin Thomas and Tyrrell Hatton were among a large group on two under.

Jordan Spieth ended the day on one under while a frustrating day on the greens saw Justin Rose finish one over.