MELBOURNE, Australia --- Tiger Woods lived up to eight months of anticipation in Australia on Thursday by running off three consecutive birdies late in his round of 6-under 66 that put him atop the leaderboard in the Australian Masters.
Playing for the first time Down Under in 11 years, before an enormous gallery only seen at major championships, Woods putted for birdie on every hole until the last one. He pulled his drive into a tea tree, chopped out into the rough and took two putts from 40 feet for his lone bogey.
Among early starters, Woods was tied with James Nitties, of Australia, coming off his rookie season on the PGA Tour, and Branden Grace, of South Africa.
Woods missed only two fairways in a round that was relatively free of stress.
Far more impressive than the golf, however, was the gallery.
Traffic was backed up along Kingston Road outside the club for miles in the hour before Woods tee off.
"I know," he said. "I was stuck in it, too."
The tournament has been a sellout for months, and it remains peculiar to see a ticket window at an Australian golf tournament with a sign that says "Sold out." The cap was at 100,000 tickets for the week, and while it was impossible for 25,000 fans to stay on one hole, whoever couldn't fit in moved ahead to the next couple of holes.
Among those in the gallery was Woods' mother, Kultida, who usually only travels to Augusta National Golf Club and Sherwood Country Club for her son's tournament in December.
Cameron Percy and Doug Holloway were at 67, while Greg Chalmers was in the group at 68.
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