Garcia holds two-shot lead

On a day when Tiger Woods made his first appearance since winning The Masters, Sergio Garcia stole the spotlight.

Displaying almost complete disdain for swirling afternoon winds, Garcia shot a sizzling six-under-par 66 to take a two-shot lead after the first round of the Wachovia Championship.

A European Ryder Cup star, Garcia reeled off eight birdies on the demanding Quail Hollow course.

“I feel good about the way I played but at the same time, this could have been amazing,” Garcia said.

“I only missed one green (but) I didn’t make as many putts as I deserved. I could easily have shot 61, 62, but I didn’t.”

“It’s a tough course and it’s not playing easy at all, but I can really only think of one shot that I missed, the tee shot on one. Other than that, taking away the putts, I hit pretty much every shot the way I wanted. Don’t get me wrong, I am not disappointed, but I only got 60% out of the round, so it could have been a lot better.”

Garcia has had a solid if not unspectacular start to 2005, recording four top-10s, but he also missed the cut at The Masters.

After the strong round, Garcia has a two-shot lead over defending champion Joey Sindelar, Kenny Perry, Patrick Johnson and Richard Johnson, who all played in the morning.

Woods overcame an early bogey at number three en route to a 70. He capped his day with a 40-foot birdie putt on his final hole.

“I came out a little bit on the rusty side,” Woods said.

“I had taken three weeks off but once I got back into the rhythm of the round I started feeling really good over the shots and I started shaping them, putting the ball in all the right places.”

Woods, who started on the back nine, nearly undid his good work with bogeys at numbers six and seven. He did finish with consecutive birdies, including the monster on his final hole.

Vijay Singh, the world number one, also shot a 70. Phil Mickelson, ranked third, carded a 71, as did England’s Justin Rose and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington.

English trio Ian Poulter, Greg Owen and Brian Davis shot 72, 74 and 77 respectively.