Tiger Woods leads the Deutsche Bank Championship with Aussie John Senden third

TIGER Woods produced a stunning birdie blitz while Australian John Senden shares third just two back at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Senden

TIGER Woods produced a stunning birdie blitz to take the lead midway through the opening round of the US PGA tour Deutsche Bank Championship while Australian John Senden shares third just two back.

Woods shot a seven under par 64 in the second of four playoff events for the FedEx Cup to share first with fellow American Jeff Overton after the morning wave at TPC Boston.

Senden was bogey-free on his way to a five-under 66, leaving him tied with South African Louis Oosthuizen (66), American Ryan Moore (through 12s holes) and Korean Seung-Yul Noh (through 12 holes) just two off the pace.

Woods played his opening eight holes in two under par before putting the foot down at the turn. His long eagle putt on the 18th just missed the cup but the tap in birdie started a run of six straight and rocketed the 14-time major champion into control of the tournament.

Woods sunk 12 footers on the second and third holes and then made another birdie from 15 feet on the third. His next two were much easier to negotiate after precision approach shots.

The 36-year-old hit a magic flop shot on the fourth to four feet and had just inches left on the fifth after going very close to holing out from 157 yards.

Woods cooled a little in his final few holes, making a few scrambling pars before dropping a shot on the last after hitting his approach long.

"I played really well today. I hit a lot of good shots, and on top of that I putted well at the same time," Woods said.

"It was a nice little combination.

"I hit the ball well enough to probably shoot maybe one or two more.

"I missed a couple little putts out there but also I made my share from outside of 15, 20 feet, as well."

Senden was a picture of steadiness on the way to his 66, proving once again he has the game to match it with the big guns.

Senden

He kick-started his round with a 13 foot birdie putt on the second hole after earlier bunker trouble and then forged ahead with precision approach shots to the fifth, seventh and 12th holes to leave short birdie putts.

A two-putt birdie on the par five 18th ensured he'd finish the day right in the thick of the action.

"I've been seeing them well," Senden said.

"Last week I felt good and wanted to bring that same form into here this week.

"Today was another good day. I felt like I drove it well and actually been feeling good more on and around the greens, so that's been the difference from my low score."

Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day both started strongly with three under 68s to be inside the top 20, the mark they'll likely need to continue in the playoffs.

Adam Scott fired a 69 despite driving the ball well enough to lead the tournament, lamenting his "pathetic" putting.

Geoff Ogilvy fired a one-over 72 while Greg Chalmers and Marc Leishman were out in the afternoon wave.