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Woods takes share of lead

Melbourne - Tiger Woods fired a six-under par 66 to grab a share of the early clubhouse lead in the opening round of the A$1.5 million ($1.4 million) Australian Masters on Thursday.

Woods, making his first appearance in Australia in 11 years, took advantage of benign morning conditions at Kingston Heath Golf Club to notch seven birdies.

He briefly held the outright lead at seven-under but bogeyed his last hole to finish level with South Africa's Branden Grace and James Nitties.

"I felt pretty good today, I hit the ball pretty decent. I didn't get my irons that close but took advantage of the par fives," the world number one said.

"I bogeyed the last hole and missed two shots for birdie but other than that it was a pretty good day."

Grace threatened to upstage 14-time major champion Woods after a scintillating mid-round period, the South African sinking six birdies in eight holes from the sixth to the 13th, but bogeyed the par-four 17th to give up a one-stroke lead.

After a patient run of four pars, Nitties sparked his round into life with an eagle on the par five 14th, his fifth hole, and posted another four birdies on his way to a bogey-free round.

The leaders held a one stroke advantage over three Australians, Cameron Percy and Doug Holloway, who shot a pair of 67s, and Peter Nolan who was five-under after eight holes.

Another Australian, Greg Chalmers, was a further stroke behind at four-under while former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy was one-under after 15 holes.

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