Woodland, Reed share lead as Woods falters

MIAMI, Florida: US Open champion Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed shared the lead Wednesday in the Hero World Challenge as tournament host Tiger Woods faltered late in the Bahamas.

Woodland and former Masters champion Reed both shot six-under par 66 at wind-whipped Albany Golf Club — displaying the kind of solid golf US Presidents Cup playing captain Woods was hoping to see from the pair when he selected them for this month’s matchplay showdown with Ernie Els’ International squad.

Woods himself had his struggles, improving from two-over through 10 holes to reach three-under before closing with a bogey and double-bogey in an even-par 72.

Woods made a run up the leaderboard with birdies at 11, 13 and 14 followed by an eagle at 15 — where his chip from off the green took two bounces and rolled into the hole.

“Got it going on the back nine just a little bit, got myself kind of right there in the mix and then bad shots on 17 and 18,” Woods said.

Woods wasn’t the only player to run into trouble at Albany’s closing hole — where Patrick Cantlay finished with a quadruple bogey and Jordan Spieth a triple bogey.

Despite the disappointing finish, Woods wasn’t discouraged about his game.

“I didn’t putt well today,” he said. “My short game was great, drilled it really well, just hit a couple of poor iron shots that cost me a few shots.”

Woodland said keeping it in the fairway was the key to his round, which included eight birdies and two bogeys.

“The wind was tricky,” he said. “Fortunately I drove the ball really well, gave myself a lot of looks from the fairway which you’ve got to do.

“Obviously when you have a lot of birdies you see putts go in — so all in all a good day.”

“Nice to get the game trending in the right direction,” he added.