Maybe Not Vintage Tiger, But He Stays Close To Lead

It wasn’t Tiger the Terrific, but it wasn’t bad.

Bidding for his third PGA victory in as many starts, Tiger Woods shot a 3-under-par 67 Thursday and was four strokes off the pace set by Brad Faxon in the first round of the MasterCard Colonial at Fort Worth, Texas.

Faxon rode two closing birdies to a sizzling 7-under 63 after nearly missing his tee time, which would have cost him a 2-stroke penalty.

“How stupid is that?” he quipped.

With a huge, adoring crowd on his heels, Woods struggled on and off the greens but happily remained within striking distance of Faxon and a slew of other par busters.

Justin Leonard, Paul Goydos and Jim Furyk posted 64s to share second place, and the trio of Bob Tway, David Duval and Brian Henninger was two back.

At Corning, N.Y., Mardi Lunn and Alison Nicholas overcame high winds and shot 3-under-par 69s to share the lead after the first round of the $650,000 LPGA Corning Classic.

Lunn was heading for the best round of the day before she found trouble with a bad tee shot and made a double-bogey on No. 18. Nicholas, who won at Corning two years ago, had six birdies and two bogeys for just her second round in the 60s since February.