Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Not to suggest expectations were lowered for Tiger Woods on Thursday at the Chevron World Challenge, but when he made his third birdie on the front nine, the standard-bearer for Woods’s group reached for a red 3 and found none.

There was no dearth of red numbers on Woods’s scorecard. He birdied five of his first 10 holes at Sherwood Country Club on his way to a seven-under-par 65. That was good for a one-stroke lead over Rory McIlory and Graeme McDowell in an 18-man event in which all the players are in the world’s top 50.

The only golfers among the top 12 who were not here were No. 1-ranked Lee Westwood, third-ranked Martin Kaymer, who withdrew after winning the European money title in Dubai, and No. 4 Phil Mickelson.

“Not too often do I say I shot 65, and I only made one putt,” Woods said. “It was a good ball-striking day.”

Woods was on his way to his best competitive round since he shot a 62 in September 2009 until he made a bogey on the last hole after a terrible drive. It was one of the few loose shots hit by Woods on a day in which he hit every green in regulation on the front side and struck the ball with a clarity of purpose that was missing most of 2010.

“I was pretty impressed with what he was doing out there,” said Woods’s playing partner, Steve Stricker, who added, “He striped it all day long.”

Woods, 35, is the four-time champion of the event, which benefits his charity, the Tiger Woods Foundation. Although winless on the PGA Tour for the first time since he turned professional in 1996, Woods’s first-round score did not come out of nowhere.

In his previous competitive round, on the final day of last month’s Australian Masters, Woods played the final six holes in six under, for a round of 65.

Woods recently lost his No. 1 ranking, which he had held for 281 consecutive weeks, to Westwood. He can reclaim the top spot with a victory here and a third-place finish or worse by Westwood at a 12-man event this week in South Africa.

The world rankings operate on a two-year points cycle, so Westwood, should he fall from the top spot, would regain it next month. There is much talk that the 2011 season could have a handful of players jockeying for the top spot, as has been the case this year in women’s golf, with four players holding the No. 1 ranking.

“Tiger has dominated for so long,” said sixth-ranked Jim Furyk, who has three victories this year. “There are guys like Mickelson and, you go down the list, the top 10, there’s a bunch of guys that would like to say that.”

The run for No. 1 could end up being the same old conversation if Woods continues to strike the ball as well as he did Thursday, and can make a few more short putts. Two of his four birdies on the front nine came on missed eagle putts.

After the Players Championship in May, Woods’s swing coach, Hank Haney, resigned. Three months later, Woods began working with Sean Foley, whose clients include Sean O’Hair, Hunter Mahan and Justin Rose.

Mahan, who played many practice rounds with Woods — before and after Woods began working with Foley — was not surprised at how well Woods has taken to Foley’s instruction.

“The guy’s No. 1 in the world and he works as hard as anybody, and he couldn’t overcome a wrong theory,” Mahan said, alluding to Woods’s association with Haney.

Under Foley’s tutelage, Woods has changed his swing so that he has less weight shift and more rotation.

“As I played throughout the summer, I kept trying to do the things that I was working on with Hank over the years, and it just wasn’t working anymore,” Woods said. “And it got to the point where I just couldn’t do it.

“It’s kind of hard to try and play tournament-level golf, major championship golf, especially, when at the time I was struggling with which way the ball was going to go. Was it going to go right, or was it going to go left? That’s not fun.”

Woods missed the fairway to the right with his shots off the tee on the first, 10th and 18th holes but otherwise entertained his gallery with his pure ball-striking.

“His shots,” Stricker said, “have that sound back.”

By KAREN CROUSE