Tiger Woods sizzles to a 63 in Buick Open

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Top-ranked Tiger Woods had the best five-hole start of his career, chipping in for an eagle and making four birdies.

Woods finished with a season-low, 9-under-par 63 Friday in the Buick Open to shoot up the leaderboard. The round was his best in relation to par in four years.

Just when it looked as if he was claiming temporary ownership of the game, though, he was reminded that is impossible on his sixth hole.

Woods saw stronger wind coming as he looked at trees in the distance, buying time by tossing blades of grass twice and stepping out of his stance twice.

When Woods finally hit his 5-iron shot, a gust of wind knocked down his ball and sent it to sand.

"That was the best swing I've made," he said. "I hit the shot absolutely perfect."

Woods was coming off what he said was probably the worst putting day of his career Thursday, leading to a 71 in his first competitive round since missing the cut at the British Open.

Woods, who started the round tied for 95th, was tied for fifth at 10-under 134, four strokes behind leader John Senden (66) of Australia. Michael Letzig was second at 12 under and Vaughn Taylor (68) and Bill Lunde (65) were at 11 under.

Players with 36-hole scores higher than 140 missed the cut, including Ryan Moore (69-73 — 142) of Puyallup and ex-Washington Huskies golfer Troy Kelly (72-71 — 143).

Other tournaments

• Tennessee amateur Tim Jackson, a real-estate developer, shot a 5-under 67 to take the U.S. Senior Open lead at 11-under 133 — matching the lowest 36-hole total in event history.

Joey Sindelar (68) was a stroke behind at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind. Fred Funk (67) was third at 9 under and Greg Norman (70) was at 8 under.

"You don't expect to come into this tournament with these guys and say, you know, 'I want to go win the tournament,' " Jackson said. "I've got guys at home saying, 'If you played your game, you can win.' I'm thinking 'Yeah, right. I can beat Greg Norman.' "

• Catriona Matthew of Scotland shot a 5-under 67 to share the second-round lead with Giulia Sergas (67) of Italy in the Women's British Open in Lytham St. Annes, England. They were at 3-under 141. Matthew, playing 10 weeks after having her second child, had an eagle on the par-5 11th and a hole-in-one on the 12th.

Yuko Mitsuka (71) of Japan was at 2 under.

Players with scores higher than 153 missed the cut.

That group included Jimin Kang (79-75 — 154), a graduate of King's High School in Shoreline, and Wendy Ward (81-76 — 157), who lives near Edwall, outside Spokane.

• Washington Huskies standout Nick Taylor (71) was tied for 19th place at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational in Columbus, Ohio. Joe Daley, Rickie Fowler and Dave Schultz shared the 36-hole lead at 7-under 135, five strokes ahead of Taylor.

Jeff Gove (71) of Seattle was tied for 29th place at 141,

• Alexis Thompson, 14, of Coral Springs, Fla., won the girls division at the Junior PGA Championship in Maineville, Ohio, and T.J. Vogel, 18, of Cooper City, Fla., took the boys title.