Paired for the first time ever in the U.S. PGA Tour, two of the most talked about golf players in the world -- Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy -- did not disappoint at Bethpage Black in the first round of The Barclays, the opening event of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Woods carded a 3-under 68 to lie four shots behind leader Padraig Harrington, while McIlroy, coming off a win in the PGA Championship, shot a 2-under 69.
"With it being the Playoffs and having a grouping like that, it just focuses you from the get go," McIlroy said. "I feel like the way I played, it was good.
"It definitely could have been a few shots better. But I'm happy with how I played."
Woods said he was disappointed with his tee shots, but quite happy with his putting in the first round. "I didn't quite hit the ball as well as I would like," Woods said. "I'm going to do some work this afternoon and work on a couple things that I know I need to shore up for tomorrow.
"But very pleased with the way I putted. I putted great today."
Woods also reserved kind words for his playing partner. "He's a nice kid, he really is," Woods said. "As I said yesterday, I played with him in Abu Dhabi. We struck up a friendship back then, and it's continued.
"And it's only going to get better."
Irishman Harrington, who is aiming for a captain's pick from Jose Maria Olazabal to make his seventh-straight Ryder Cup, did his chances no harm with a wonderful 7-under 64.
In a high-scoring round overall, two players, Nick Watney and Brian Harman, are a shot back at 6-under while there is a four-way tie for fourth, with Sergio Garcia, Gary Christian, Jimmy Walker and Pat Perez all carding 5-under 66s. Six players are tied for eighth on 4-under.
"It definitely helped me cross that divide between thinking I'm at a U.S. Open and level par is going to be the winning total this week," Harrington said. "This is much more of a sprint. You're going to need to be 12-under par at the end of the week, or who knows, but it ain't going to be level par."
The chances of Harrington getting that captain's pick are pretty slim, with the Irishman and Olazabal not exactly the best of friends after a dispute during the Seve Trophy nine years ago.
"I honestly don't know what to say," Harrington said. "I don't want to go in there and try to desperately to beg for a pick, or I don't want to go in there and give excuses for anything. I'll just leave it be what it is. I'm just going to play golf.
"From the character that he (Olazabal) is, I believe he would put winning way above anything that's personal. The Ryder Cup means so much to Europe, particularly to Jose as a European player.
"Nobody -- bar Seve -- would understand in his mind what it means to Europe. Winning is what's important to him. I can't see personal issues coming into it to get a winning team."
