PARAMUS, N.J. -- A season-long trend continued for Tiger Woods on Thursday during the opening round of the Northern Trust: a lackluster start to begin the tournament leaving him with work to do to get into contention.
For the 12th time in 15 tournaments this year, Woods failed to break par in the first round, on this occasion at par-71 Ridgewood Country Club. Woods shot even-par 71 with two birdies and two bogeys.
Since the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, Woods has broken par in his opening round just once -- a 66 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, where he eventually tied for 31st.
There is no underlying problem, Woods said.
"I would say early in the year because I had not played competitive golf, but midway through the year on, it hasn't been an issue, and pretty much since the Open Championship I've felt pretty good about my starts," he said.
It was a simply a day where Woods seemed a bit off. His two birdies came on par-5s, he had trouble hitting fairways early on -- finishing 9-of-14 -- and he hit just 11 of 18 greens, scrambling to save par five times.
Woods is tied for 60th, five strokes back of Kevin Tway, Jamie Lovemark, Vaughn Taylor and Sean O'Hair, who each shot 66.
Coming off his energizing final-round 64 at the PGA Championship on Aug. 12, it was a day that seemed a bit flat.
"Just one of those days," Woods said. "For example at the PGA on Sunday, I had the perfect full club [yardage] and I could go after it. At the Open Championship on Saturday, I had, again, the full clubs. Those are days when you take advantage of them, and then are days you don't. You're kind of in between clubs, and given the conditions, as soft as they are, you can't take the low club. You have to take the high one."
Woods is playing in the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time since 2013. At 20th in the standings, he is assured of starts at next week's Dell Technologies Championship and the BMW Championship in two weeks. His plan is to play all three -- the first time he will play three straight weeks since early 2013.
To qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship, Woods will need to be among the top 30.