Woods makes early progress

Tiger Woods, needing a top four finish to reclaim the world number one spot from Vijay Singh, made the start he was looking for in the Nissan Open at Los Angeles today.

Woods, trying for a title which has eluded him more times than any other in his career, birdied five of his first 10 holes to race to five under par and into a one-stroke lead over England’s Brian Davis, Argentina’s Jose Coceres and Australian Steve Elkington, who beat Colin Montgomerie in a play-off to win the 1995 US PGA championship on the course.