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Westwood closed with two strong birdies for a 6-under 66, leaving him one shot behind Ryder Cup team-mate Francesco Molinari in pristine weather at Sheshan International.
Tiger Woods, no longer No 1 for the first time in more than five years, made one improbable par and three straight birdies on his way to a 68 that left him very much in the mix of this World Golf Championship.
The surprise, to some degree, was Westwood.
It was only his second stroke-play competition in three months, and only his second round of golf since October 10. His mistake wasn't even his own doing, as he found a clump of mud on his ball in the seventh fairway, leading to a bogey.
Otherwise, it was the kind of round expected from a No 1-ranked player.
"I don't think I need to reinforce why I'm No 1 in the world," Westwood said. "I think you get there as a result of having good performances. But it's nice to go out there and show everybody that there is a particular reason why I got to that stage."
The Asian influence in the tournament regarded as "Asia's major" shone through with Yuta Ikeda of Japan, who bogeyed his last hole and shot 67, and rising Korean star Noh Seung-yul, who also had a 67. They were joined by Henrik Stenson, coming off his worst season and seeing some signs of progress.
Luke Donald of England joined Woods at 68, while defending champion Phil Mickelson had 69. PGA champion Martin Kaymer, who has moved to No 3 in the world, opened with a 72.
Westwood, Woods, Kaymer and Mickelson all can go to No 1 this week.
Molinari tried to take some of the spotlight off the battle of the world ranking. He turned a potential bogey into a birdie on the third hole when his approach went over the green, leaving him a quick chip down the hill. He chipped in, the start of four straight birdies that carried him to the opening 65 that put him atop the leaderboard.
"Everything seems in the right place at the moment," Molinari said.
Perhaps most inspiring for Woods is that he was coming off his longest layoff - four weeks - since he returned to golf at the Masters. It looked as though he had never left. In his previous competition, Woods was 9-under through 15 holes in his victory over Molinari in Ryder Cup singles at Celtic Manor.
He wasn't that sharp, but he was a little lucky.
Already one over for the tournament, he drove into a cluster of trees and bushes on the 15th and figured he had no hope until his caddie, Steve Williams, said when Woods got to his ball, "I think we might have a shot."
The ball was behind some hedges and had sprigs sticking up around it. With a 4-iron, Woods played away from the sprigs, through a gap in the hedges, shaping the ball from left to right to get it just left of the green. From there, he navigated a tricky, downhill chip to about 3 feet for the most unlikely par.
"I was able to build some momentum from there," Woods said.
He birdied the next hole with a sand wedge to 2 feet, then turned it on over his back nine, starting with a 5-wood from 247 yards that settled about 18 feet from the cup for a two-putt birdie. He birdied the next two holes, added a 20-foot birdie on the seventh and ended his round with a 6-foot par save.
"I hit a lot of good golf shots," Woods said. "I felt like I was able to control my distance well coming into the greens, and also putted really well today."
Westwood, still trying to manage an injury to his calf that affects his right ankle, had not played a round of golf since October 10 at the Dunhill Links Championship at St. Andrews. His expectations were nil. The golf was quite good.
"I just went out there with a pretty clear mind," Westwood said. "I was a little rusty in places with my scoring, but I putted nicely. All in all, I think I probably deserved about a 66."
He did just about everything well. Westwood hit a solid drive and a 6-iron to 15 feet for birdie on the 15th hole, one of the strongest holes at Sheshan. He hit driver on the par-4 16th that pitched about 10 feet from the hole and trundled over the green, but escaped with birdie by holing an 18-foot putt.
And like Woods, he was helped by a par. Westwood pulled his 5-wood into the water on the par-5 second, but hit a nice pitch and made the par putt, then finished in style with a 5-wood just left of the green on the par-5 eighth, and a 25-foot birdie putt on his last hole.
First round scores from the $7 million WGC-HSBC Champions tournament at the Sheshan International Golf Club on Thursday (par 72):
65 - Francesco Molinari (ITA)
66 - Lee Westwood (ENG)
67 - Yuta Ikeda (JPN), Noh Seung-Yul (KOR), Henrik Stenson (SWE)
68 - Pablo Martin (ESP), Tiger Woods (USA), Luke Donald (ENG)
69 - Richie Ramsay (SCO), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Katsumasa Miyamoto (JPN), Ryan Palmer (USA), Phil Mickelson (USA), Yang Yong-Eun (KOR), Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE), Adam Scott (AUS), Ross Fisher (ENG)
70 - Padraig Harrington (IRL), Retief Goosen (RSA), Ian Poulter (ENG), Hunter Mahan (USA), Richard S Johnson (SWE)
71 - Rory McIlroy (NIR), Carl Pettersson (SWE), Michio Matsumura (JPN), Matteo Manassero (ITA), Anders Hansen (DEN), Heath Slocum (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA), Robert Karlsson (SWE), Jaco van Zyl (RSA), Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN), Ben Crane (USA), David Horsey (ENG)
72 - Jason Bohn (USA), Edoardo Molinari (ITA), Robert Allenby (AUS), Marcus Fraser (AUS), Michael Sim (AUS), Ryo Ishikawa (JPN), Nick Watney (USA), Richard Green (AUS), Ernie Els (RSA), Stuart Appleby (AUS), Martin Kaymer (GER), Bill Haas (USA), Shunsuke Sonoda (JPN), Kim Kyung-Tae (KOR), K.J. Choi (KOR), Tim Clark (RSA), Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP)
Selected:
73 - Anthony Kim (USA), Paul Casey (ENG)
74 - Graeme McDowell (NIR)
79 - Liang Wenchong (CHN)
