Akron, Ohio - Bubba Watson sure didn't play as though it was his first time to Firestone.

Tiger Woods looked as though he had never seen it before.

Watson made his debut in the Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday by running off four straight birdies on the back nine and making a long putt on the final hole for a 6-under 64 and a two-shot lead over a group that included Masters champion Phil Mickelson and U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.

The shocker was Woods.

On the course where he has won a PGA Tour record seven times, Woods opened with bogeys on the two easiest holes at Firestone and wound up with his highest score ever on the South Course, a 4-over 74 that put him 10 shots behind.

If that wasn't bad enough, a fan said to Woods on his way to the scoring trailer, "You're washed up, Tiger. Give it up."

The world's No. 1 player looked that way at times.

"Just because I like the golf course doesn't mean I'm going to play well on it," Woods said. "You still have to execute, and I didn't do that. I did not execute the shots that I wanted to execute, didn't shape the ball the way I wanted to shape it, and certainly did not putt well."

Two drives into the trees. Two shots to get out of a bunker. Putts that really didn't scare the hole. When he rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole, he turned in two directions and bowed to the gallery.

Woods has never finished lower than fifth on this golf course. He had never shot higher than 72 in his 44 previous rounds at Firestone. And he had nine consecutive rounds at par or better until Thursday.

"Only thing I did good is I kept my patience out there," Woods said.

Even more alarming for Woods is that the conditions were ideal for low scoring, although Firestone is not the kind of track where anyone should expect a 59.

"It was a day you could be aggressive if you played better than I did," Woods said.

Watson did.

So did McDowell, who finished with four straight birdies for a 66. Mickelson was trying to keep his momentum with a par toward the end of his round when he hit a flop shot that dropped in for birdie on the sixth, and then he added two birdies on his last three holes.

Adam Scott, who played bogey-free, and Kenny Perry also were at 66. The group at 67 included Jeff Overton, who finished second last week at the Greenbrier when Stuart Appleby closed with a 59.

Twenty-five players from the 81-man field broke par.

Watson is playing only his second World Golf Championship, having qualified in June by winning the Travelers Championship for his first PGA Tour victory. He sobbed on the 18th green that day in paying tribute to his father, who is battling throat cancer, and Watson is coming off a two-week vacation that included time at his lake house with his family.

"It's tough to make shots around this golf course," Watson said. "I knew it was going to be tough, but today, I just putted really well, hit good iron shots and made it look a little bit easy. But we're not done yet."

Sabbatini and Uresti share lead

Rory Sabbatini doesn't have a problem reaching greens. He just has to get his putter working.

The 34-year-old South African hit all 18 greens in regulation for the second time in two months and shot a 7-under 65 that had him tied for the lead with Omar Uresti at the rain-delayed Turning Stone Resort Championship at Verona, N.Y.

Sabbatini and Uresti both had seven birdies without a bogey and were one stroke in front of Brad Faxon, Brian Davis, Steve Elkington and Alex Cejka.

Despite shooting his best round since a 63 at the season-opening SBS Championship, Sabbatini needed 30 putts, five more than Uresti.

"It's not often you can come off the golf course and jokingly say you should have birdied them all." said Sabbatini, who was an alternate for last month's British Open at St. Andrews but did not play. "But I did."

John Mallinger, Chris Couch, Jonathan Byrd, Michael Bradley, Jason Dufner and Tim Wilkinson, who had to qualify on Monday, were tied at 67.

Because of a weather delay of nearly three hours, 24 players did not complete the first round. Among those who did not finish and were to complete the opening round on Friday morning were Chris Tidland, who was at 6 under with two holes to play, and Steve Wheatcroft, who was at 5 under after 16 holes.

Fifteen-year-old Gavin Hall, of Pittsford, N.Y., finished at 6-over 78 in his PGA Tour debut. Hall is bidding to become the second-youngest player in PGA Tour history to make the cut in a tournament.

The rain softened the 7,482-yard Atunyote Golf Club layout just enough to allow the players to aim at the pins on what turned into a sunny, humid day with a steady wind between 10 and 20 mph.

Sabbatini, who started on the back nine, birdied his first three holes before lightning and rain caused a 2-hour, 43-minute delay. He came back out and made birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 to make the turn at 31.

Although he made just one birdie on the four par-5s, Sabbatini birdied three of the four par-3s in a round he'll likely replay in his mind a few times.

"I would say I played well," he said. "I didn't score anywhere near what my potential was out there. I had a really good ball-striking day, had a lot of short birdie putts that I missed, a lot of good opportunities that I squandered out there, but overall, you know, going out there I made it a pretty stress-free day.

"I like the layout, and they give us quite a bit of room out there to work with," Sabbatini said. "Obviously, that little bit of rain we had early on this morning kind of softened the conditions up, so it made it pretty easy to be aggressive, especially to some of those pins."