After a start that brought back memories of his time battling back and knee issues, Tiger Woods came back with 9 birdies over the last 15 holes to shoot an opening round (-6) 64.

Woods shares the lead with Gary Woodland at the end of the first round of the ZOZO Championship in Chiba, Japan. The last time Woods had a solo first-round lead was in the 2009 PGA Championship.

Woods starting on the 10th hole and began with bogeys on his first 3 holes, then turned it around with birdies on 4 of his last 5 holes to finish 1-under on the back nine.

Woods discussed how he was able to right the ship on the front nine

"To be able to flip it like that, I felt if I could get to under par for that -- I figure most of the guys would be about 2, 3 under par with the wind blowing as hard as it was today -- that I wouldn't be that far behind. It flipped, and I got hot and made a bunch of putts.''

Woods will tee off for round 2 on Thursday night at 8:40pm ET

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