Poulter leaves Tiger in his dust at TPC Sawgrass

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Tiger Woods (CP)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Ian Poulter is enjoying his new digs -- his newly built home and his spot atop the leaderboard Thursday in The Players Championship.

Poulter, finally finished with a house at Lake Nona that took nearly three years to build, ran off four birdies around the turn and birdied all the par 5s at TPC Sawgrass for a 7-under 65 and a share of the lead with Martin Laird.

Laird, playing in tougher conditions in the afternoon, was the only player without a bogey in the opening round. He made birdie on his final hole to catch Poulter, although his focus was more on his scorecard than the leaderboard.

"I knew I hadn't made a 5 all day, and that was kind of a little goal I had," said Laird, who finished on the par-5 ninth. "Nothing to do with getting to 7 under. It was, 'I don't want to make a 5 all day."'

Poulter finally had his mind at ease after getting moved into his new home, which left him little time to practice. If nothing else, it was good to think only about golf.

"It's no surprise to me to be fresh in the mind this week, to know that I'm finally in the house and I'm relaxed and the family is happy, and all of the hassle and stress is over and I can just go out and play golf," he said. "And I have felt relaxed this week."

That's not easy to do at Sawgrass -- Tiger Woods can certainly attest to that -- yet it helped Poulter that he had nine straight one-putt greens, a streak that ended with a long two-putt for par on the 18th.

They were a shot ahead of Blake Adams, with Ben Crane and Kevin Na another shot behind. The 11 players at 68 included Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar, Ben Curtis and FedEx champion Bill Haas. There were 27 players who shot in the 60s, and more than half the field broke par.

Woods was not among them. Not even close.

He opened with a bogey and was never under par in a round of 74. Coming off a rare missed cut at Quail Hollow, Woods was in jeopardy of missing consecutive cuts for the first time in his career, and leaving before The Players Championship was over for the third straight year.

"I just didn't score," Woods said. "It was frustrating in the sense that my good shots ended up in bad spots, and obviously, my bad shots ended up in worse spots."

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., opened with a 3-under 69, and Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., shot a 71.

The conditions were ideal for scoring for those hitting it where they were aiming, and making their share of putts.

Adams ran off five straight birdies early in his round and kept the mistakes to a minimum. Na shot 30 on the back nine.

Sawgrass, though, punishes even the slightest mistakes.

Rory McIlroy, the world No. 1, was 2 under for his round until coming up just short of the island-green 17th and making double bogey. He wound up with a 72, while Phil Mickelson had a 71 in his first round after being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 11, 2012 C5