Four share AT&T lead; Woods seven back

Golf Betting Lines

07/01/2010 - Newtown Square, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Watney fired a four-under 66 Thursday to grab a share of the lead after the opening round of the AT&T National at Aronimink Golf Club.

Watney was joined atop the leaderboard by Jason Day, Joe Ogilvie and Arjun Atwal. All four players competed in the morning wave before a steady breeze that picked up as the day went along made for tougher scoring in the afternoon.

Six players, including Ryan Moore and Carl Pettersson, are one stroke off the lead at three-under 67. Moore and Pettersson were among the afternoon wave.

World No. 1 Tiger Woods faltered on the back nine, dropping four strokes over a four-hole period from the 14th to shoot three-over 73 and drop into a tie for 81st place.

The defending champion, Woods traded a birdie for a bogey from the first, then snaked in a birdie putt at No. 5 to get back to minus-one.

After eight straight pars, Woods came apart down the stretch, starting with a three-putt bogey at the par-three 14th.

He found thick rough off the tee at the par-five 16th, then laid up. Woods dropped his third into the sand from just 82 yards and was unable to save par from there. That bogey dropped him to plus-one and more trouble was on the horizon.

Woods found water short of the green at the par-three 17th, leading to a double-bogey, and he lipped out a five-foot birdie putt at the 18th after a spectacular approach

"I just let my round get away from me," Woods said in a TV interview afterward.

He added later: "I hit it well today, but made nothing. I just putted terrible. My speed was good, but I never hit the ball on line. It was a very frustrating day on the greens."

Watney did all of his scoring in one bunch. He posted eight straight pars to open his round, then collected a birdie on the par-five ninth -- the first of four in a row.

The 29-year-old rolled in birdie putts at the 10th, 11th and 12th and then parred the final six holes to become the last of the four leaders to reach the clubhouse at minus-four.

"I played very, very steady," said Watney, who earned his second PGA Tour win at the 2009 Buick Invitational. "I was never really in much trouble."

Day, who was in the group ahead of Watney, got going with a birdie on the first hole and picked up another birdie at three. He turned in three-under thanks to a birdie on the seventh, but tripped to a bogey on 10.

The Australian, who won the Byron Nelson Championship earlier this year, came back with birdies on 12 and 16 to grab a piece of the lead.

Ogilvie and Atwal were in the first groups out, Ogilvie off the 10th tee and Atwal off the first. Ogilvie birdied the 11th, but gave it right back with a bogey on 12. He got back to minus-one with a birdie on 16.

The 36-year-old Ogilvie parred his next five holes. He dropped in a birdie effort on the long par-four fourth and followed with a birdie on the fifth, the shortest par-three on the course at 178 yards. Ogilvie got to four-under with a birdie on the seventh and he parred the final two holes.

Atwal had the most uneven round of the leaders. Following an opening bogey, he birdied three straight from the second. After six consecutive pars, birdies on 11 and 13 moved Atwal to minus-four.

He gave one back with a bogey on 14, but recovered that with a birdie on 16. Atwal faltered to a bogey on 17, but came back to birdie the last to end at minus-four.

Moore and Pettersson were joined in fifth place by John Mallinger, Brian Gay, Michael Letzig and Brett Quigley.

Tim Herron and Scott McCarron headline eight players tied for 11th at two- under-par 68.

Aronimink member Sean O'Hair managed just one birdie to go with two bogeys in a round of one-over 71. He is tied for 49th.

"It would be nice to play really well in front of everybody, but at the end of the week, it's just another golf tournament," said O'Hair, who is battling a balky back. "I'd love to play well at this golf course, but I can't control my back."

NOTES: Nathan Green made the only hole-in-one of the day, acing the par-three fifth...Just 34 of 120 players broke par on Thursday...Kevin Streelman withdrew after opening with an eight-over 78 due to an illness in the family...Aronimink is hosting its first big event since the 2003 Senior PGA Championship...Congressional, which is the normal host course, is undergoing renovations for next year's U.S. Open.