Woods sets the pace at Ridgewood

Tiger Woods reacted to his divorce this week in style on the course - by shooting a 65 to take the early clubhouse lead at the Barclays.

Tiger Woods reacted to his divorce this week in style on the course today - by shooting a 65 to take the early clubhouse lead at the Barclays.

The world number one, whose marriage to Elin Nordegren was formally dissolved three days ago, opened his round in the best possible fashion with a birdie at the first hole and picked up further shots at the third, fifth and seventh.

Hole 12 saw his one dropped shot of the day but he bounced back with two successive birdies and then rolled in an eight-foot putt at the last to move to the summit of the leaderboard at Ridgewood Country Club.

Ryan Palmer was level with Woods with four to play after an astonishing front nine which saw him birdie the first five holes.

He gained further ground at the seventh and eighth and, though he gave those two shots back on a dismal 10th hole, he recorded another birdie at the 13th and was six under with four to play.

Vaughan Taylor was five-under with two to play and Brian Gay, having started on the back nine, was also one off the lead with four holes remaining.

Gay slipped off the pace with a double-bogey at the sixth - his 15th hole - but a birdie at the par-five 17th saw Taylor match Woods' round.

A delighted Woods said of his efforts: "For us being first off with fresh greens, everybody in our group was making putts on the front nine. You had to get it today especially with the wind being down early and then we had fresh greens, so it was good to be out early.

"I just played today. I went out and played made a few tweaks on the range with my swing. Started off warming up not very good at all. I was hitting it all over the lot but made a couple of tweaks and found what I have been working on. I hit it good today.

"It feels good to be able to control my ball all day like this. I haven't done that.

"The one time I hit the ball like this was the nine holes at the US Open, on Saturday. This is how I hit it but I hit it all day like that. It feels good to have the things I'm working on starting to feel more natural."

The round represents a superb start to Woods' FedEx Cup campaign. The 34-year-old goes into the play-off series in the unfamiliar position of 112th in the standings, and said: "It was important. I have to play my way into next week. I have to play well this week in order to advance and this is a good start."