Four tied for lead at AT&T National

Associated Press

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.

In the five years Arjun Atwal has been playing practice rounds with Tiger Woods at home in Florida, he learned long ago to stop comparing himself with the world’s No. 1 player.

There was no comparison Thursday in the AT&T National.

Atwal made seven birdies in his round of 4-under 66 and was in a four-way tie for the lead at Aronimink Golf Club. Woods threw away five shots over the last five holes and opened with a 3-over 73, making it a challenge today just to make the cut.

“It was a very frustrating day on the greens, especially how good I was driving it,” Woods said. “I was driving it on a string all day.”

Atwal had no such complaints after finding himself atop the leaderboard with Nick Watney, Joe Ogilvie and Jason Day on a tough day at Aronimink, where the pin locations made it difficult to attack the flags.

Playing on a sponsor’s exemption — spending so much time with Woods has its perks — Atwal recovered from a bogey on his opening hole with three straight birdies, all of them inside 12 feet, and kept the mistakes to a minimum.

“Four under, I think, is a great score for me or anybody on this golf course,” Atwal said. “I’ll take it every day.”

Woods, who won the AT&T National last year at Congressional, had his best round of the year off the tee. He hit driver on all but three holes on the tree-lined course with rough nearly as thick as it was in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He just didn’t give himself that many birdie chances, and when he did, he couldn’t make any.

His only two birdies were from 4 feet on the opening hole, and a 60-foot putt from the back of the green on the par-3 fifth.