Bryant sets a hot pace

US TourBart Bryant carded a flawless eight-under-par 62 to grab the early first round lead at the Tour Championship on Thursday, with world number one Tiger Woods and defending champion Retief Goosen in hot pursuit.

Goosen was only two behind the leader after a 64.

Bryant, winner of the Memorial tournament in May, had a solid outward nine at the East Lake Golf Club, hitting three birdies.

But it was a scorching finish that included three consecutive birdies from the 11th and an eagle three on the par-five 15th that propelled the 43-year-old American to the top of the leaderboard.

Padraig Harringtron was in the lower half of the field following a one-over par round of 71.

Harrington was two over par after three holes, but picked up a shot at the fourth.

He went back to level par with a birdie on the par-five ninth, but immediately dropped a shot on the 10th.

He dropped another shot on the 13th, but responded with a birdie on the 17th and a par three on the last left him at one over par and facing an uphill battle.

Tiger Woods is nicely placed on four under par after shooting 66 along with Sergio Garcia, fresh from his second-place finish in Valderrama's Volvo Masters.

Kenny Perry shot 65 to leave him in third place on his own.

The winner of six events this season including the Masters and British Open, Woods went to five-under during a flawless first nine before dropping a shot at the 10th to leave him four-under with seven to play.

World number two Vijay Singh, who has failed to make the cut in his last two starts, was unable to break out of his slump.

The Fijian sat on one-over through 11 holes after a birdie-bogey-bogey start to his round. He recovered to fire a respectable one-under 69.

First round scores

62 - B Bryant (US); 64 - R Goosen (SA); 65 - K Perry (US); 66 - S Garcia (Spain); T Woods (US); 67 - C Howell III (US), S Verplank (US), T Clark (SA); 68 - B Crane (US), Davis Love III (United States); 69 - C DiMarco (US), V Singh (Fiji); 70 - S Appleby (Australia), O Browne (US), L Donald (Britain), Justin Leonard (US), J Furyk (US); 71 - T Purdy (US), P Harrington, F Funk (US); 72 - L Glover (US), M Calcavecchia (US), B Mayfair (US), C Campbell (US), D Toms (US); 73 - T Herron (US), B Jobe (US), S O'Hair (US), A Scott (Australia).