Ireland's Darren Clarke, the only European to capture one of golf's World Championship titles, is in the hunt for another after a superb 65 in Akron today.
The Ulsterman is in a tie for second in the $6million NEC Invitational with Open champion Ben Curtis taking a mere 23 putts in his six-under-par 64 as he took the lead. Clarke was alongside world number one Tiger Woods in second while out on course Sergio Garcia was also five under with five to play.
Woods stood six under with two to go, but then bogeyed the 400-yard 17th, missing from under six feet after coming up short with his approach. Like Curtis, Clarke did not have a bogey on his card. "I played very nicely," he said.
"I'm not saying this course is easy, but it's a bit of relief after last week, which was brutal."
Clarke missed the halfway cut in the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill. It was not the most promising of starts when he hit a tree with his drive on the 497-yard second and finished on the adjoining third fairway.
But a 50-yard pitch to eight feet still enabled him to birdie the hole and he was off and running.
Further birdies came on the third, fifth, 10th and 12th and a massive drive on the long 16th gave him hopes of another. Clarke had 276 yards to get to the front of the green and, even with water in front, took a three-wood out of his bag three times and thought about going for it.
Eventually he decided not to and was left wishing he had when he pitched into sand over the green. But he saved par and scrambled fours on the two closing holes.
Curtis, who is getting married after the event, admitted he went out with an attitude of "good or bad I don't care - this will be the best week of my life no matter what I shoot".
Woods showed his liking for the lay-out again from the time he birdied the second. It is now nine sub-70 rounds in a row on it and, even if he does not have a major to his name, he remains the man to beat.
Garcia eagled the second and then had four successive birdies around the turn to join Curtis. But the 23-year-old fell back alongside Clarke and Woods with a bogey on the short 12th.
Father-to-be Padraig Harrington admitted he thought about pulling out en route to his 73. "I spent most of the day wondering whether it was time to go home," said the Dubliner.
"But I think that would be wrong. This is a big tournament and it deserves respect."
He blamed a swing change rather than the distractions of parenthood for his score, though.
"I hit half the shots as well as I could and half as bad as I could. Get in position on this course and you can make birdies, but when you get out of position there's a good chance of bogeys. It's a good test."
Paul McGinley and Lee Westwood both returned 70s - and for Westwood that was miserable. Four under par and sharing the lead after 16 holes he triple-bogeyed the 17th and bogeyed the last.
"What can you do?" he asked. "Can you give me anything to be optimistic about after that?"
His annoyance was mainly at his drive down the 400-yard 17th, which caught the top of a bunker - and stuck there.
"I pushed it a little bit right, it pitches in the face of the trap and when I get up there I can see about three dimples of the golf ball," he added.
Unable to get it out of the bunker Westwood then had a fresh air shot from the rough by the green and in the end had to make a five-footer just to drop three shots.
Ian Poulter was critical of the sand in the bunkers as he shot 73, while fellow Englishman Phil Golding, in the field because of his French Open win in June, had a triple bogey eight at the 16th in his 76.
Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Phillip Price and Nick Faldo were among the later starters. Price was two under after three and Rose one under after 11, Casey and Faldo level after five and one respectively.