Tiger Woods ties career best, shoots 61

AKRON, Ohio -- Tiger Woods flirted with history on Friday at Firestone Country Club, settling for a 9-under-par 61 that matched his career-best score and gave him a commanding seven-stroke lead at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.Woods birdied the first four holes on the back side but couldn't make another birdie coming in, although he made a 26-footer for par on the last hole to match the 61 he shot three previous times, including in 2000 at Firestone.

He was bidding to become just the sixth player to shoot 59 in PGA Tour history and was in position to do it through 13 holes, needing two more birdies (and no bogeys) on the closing five holes.

"It felt really good," Woods said in a TV interview after his round. "I had it going. Four under through 3 is always a nice thing to have. I let the round build from there."

Woods also referenced shooting 59 at his former home course of Iselworth prior to the 1997 Masters.

Stuart Appleby was the last player to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour, at the 2010 Greenbrier Classic. No player has ever broken 60 on the European Tour and Annika Sorenstam is the only LPGA player to achieve golf's Holy Grail.

It was Woods' best score since shooting a final-round 62 in 2002 at the Honda Classic, where the PGA National Course is also par-70. The next best score of the day was a 4-under-par 66 by John Merrick. The scoring average for the day was 71.1.

Playing partner Hideki Matsuyama shot 68. Woods, who has won the Bridgestone Invitational seven times, has opened nine previous tournaments with two rounds of 66 or better and gone on to win each time. His last victory here was in 2009, when he closed the tournament with a pair of 65s.

Woods started fast, making a birdie at the first hole and then following with a 20-foot eagle putt at the second and another birdie at the third. After three straight pars, he birdied the seventh and turned in 30 strokes, 5 under par.

But things really got interesting on the back side as Woods birdied the first four holes, once after getting a good kick from the trees back into the fairway at the 13th. Another errant drive at the 14th meant some maneuvering to get his approach to the back fringe, from where he chipped to 7 feet and made the par putt to keep the round going.

Woods missed from just outside of 10 feet at the par-3 15th, then wasn't able to go for the green from 275 yards at the par-5 16th, where he seemingly laid up to a perfect yardage but hit his wedge shot approach 30 feet beyond the hole and settled for par.

The possibility of a 59 still existed with birdies at the last two holes, but Woods missed a 7-footer at the 17th, all but ending the threat. And then an errant drive at the 18th forced him to play well to the right of the green, and a pitch to the back, where he holed the par putt.

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