• BMW Championship, Round One

Woods struggles at BMW Championship

Tiger Woods suffered a terrible start at Cog Hill © Getty Images

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Tiger Woods failed to produce a positive response to his Ryder Cup inclusion in the first round of the BMW Championship, carding a two-over-par 73 on Thursday.

Woods claimed all the headlines at this week's US Ryder Cup team announcement, after captain Corey Pavin kept faith with the troubled world No. 1 by handing him a wild-card pick. However, Pavin will have been far from happy with Woods' early form at Cog Hill after he barely recovered from an awful start that saw him reach the turn on three-over.

Golf's most famous star double-bogeyed the first and then dropped another shot at the sixth as he found himself hacking his way out of the crowd. A brief revival on holes 10 and 11 was punctured by another bogey at 12, before a further dropped shot at the last hole left Woods nine shots off the pace going into round two, one stroke behind fellow Ryder Cup colleagues Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton, who all finished on one-over.

European skipper Colin Montgomerie was given plenty more to smile about as Ian Poulter and Luke Donald both played themselves toward the top of the leaderboard, alongside fellow Englishman Justin Rose. Donald and Rose both carded solid 68s to join American Dustin Johnson on three-under during Thursday's first round, while Poulter finished on five-under to move within two strokes of the leader.

The Illinois event represents the third of four play-offs in the FedEx Cup, with only the top 30 players in the overall points list progressing to the final tournament in Atlanta. Donald and Rose both started Thursday's round inside the top 10, whereas Poulter knows he has work to do to improve from 44th position.

For Donald and Poulter, the FedEx Cup is something of a tune-up for October's Ryder Cup, whereas Rose is able to prioritise the Chicago event after he was overlooked by Montgomerie. All three players attacked the tee with real ambition during the first round, but Poulter's effort caught the eye as he double-bogeyed the 10th before recovering with an eagle at 15. Birdies on the final two holes really cemented an excellent round, which saw the 34-year-old hit the second highest percentage of greens in regulation.

Paul Casey, the man controversially overlooked by Montgomerie, is also going well on two-under, but there will be some concern over Rory McIlroy, who shot a disastrous five-over 76.

Matt Kuchar, an automatic member of the US Ryder Cup team, claimed the first-round lead, firing a seven-under 64 that featured a brilliant eagle at the 15th. Sitting on an unspectacular three-under through 14, Kuchar suddenly made light work of the par-five 15th before following that effort up with birdies at 17 and 18 to confirm his status at the top of the FedEx Cup standings.

Ryan Moore reached the clubhouse one stroke behind Kuchar on six-under after producing a quite sensational back nine. Turning in one-over-par, Moore hit seven birdies in nine holes to significantly improve his hopes of breaking into the top 30.

Much spotlight was on Rickie Fowler following his wild-card pick for the US Ryder Cup squad, but the rookie failed to sparkle in an even-par first round. Fowler began the third play-off event ranked 25th in the standings, so he faces a fight to ensure he stays inside the top 30 over the course of the weekend.

A trio of Fowler's Ryder Cup team-mates faired marginally better, with Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker and Stewart Cink all finishing on one-under, while Hunter Mahan joined Fowler on even-par.

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