Ian Poulter set the early clubhouse pace with an opening round of seven-under 65 in the Players Championship.
The Englishman carded his career-low Sawgrass round with eight birdies and nine single putts from the ninth.
He is one shot clear of American Blake Adams (66) and two ahead of Kevin Na (67) and Ben Crane (67).
Tigers Woods again struggled, a week after missing the cut, and carded a scrappy two-over 74, while Rickie Fowler ended on level par after a 72.
Poulter, runner-up to Swede Henrik Stenson three years ago, fired four birdies from the ninth and six in his last 10 holes.
"I played lovely," said the Englishman. "It is a good golf course. I do like tough golf courses. I generally play them well; whether it focuses my mind a bit more, I don't know. It is a proper test of golf. I'm excited to see what happens over the weekend."
Poulter admits he is playing with a "huge weight off his mind" after finally seeing completion of the palatial new house he has been building on the shores of Lake Nona in Florida.
"It was brutal from start to finish," he said. "There were a lot of interesting hiccups along the way, but I'm glad to say they are all behind me, and we are going to spend that first night in there on Sunday."
Woods, the 14-time major champion, opened on the 10th hole with a bogey and went out in one-over 37 with three bogeys and two birdies, including holing a 13-foot putt at the infamous island green 17th hole.
The former world number one, now seventh in the rankings, dropped further shots at the first and third, either side of a birdie on the second, before parring his way home.
"It wasn't certainly the most positive start," Woods said. "Any kind of momentum that I would build, I would shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole. Just one of those days.
"I didn't get a lot out of that round. It should have been probably one or two under par."
The 36-year-old, who broke a 17-month win drought with a victory at Bay Hill in March, came to the Players after his eighth career missed cut and was in danger of failing to reach the weekend once again.
"I just didn't score. I hit decent shots in there and just got some of the worst lies," Woods said. "It was frustrating in the sense that my good shots ended up in bad spots and obviously my bad shots ended up in worse spots."
Woods won the 2001 Players but has struggled at the course in recent years, withdrawing last year after nine holes with left knee pain and in 2010 he withdrew with 12 holes left in the final round due to a neck injury
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