Davis love is more like a player in Honda Classic

Tiger Woods needs a good round just to have a chance going into the weekend. Playing the Honda Classic for the first time as a pro, Woods twice lost momentum with sloppy bogeys and failed to convert a routine up-and-down on the par-5 18th for a 1-over 71. He was seven shots out of the lead, right on the cut line going into Friday.

But he played in tougher conditions, with stronger wind, in the afternoon and still hit the ball well, as he has been doing.

"I didn't get a whole lot out of my round," Woods said. "I hit the ball a lot better than I scored, and I certainly putted well, and I didn't hardly get anything discount golf clubs out of the round. Hopefully, tomorrow it will be better."

Woods missed only three greens, but took 34 putts.

The 47-year-old Love has been around long enough to know that one round is nothing more than a good start, and he was happy to have that after a 5-iron to 18 feet for birdie on the 17th and a bunker shot to tap-in range for birdie on the par-5 18th.

He hasn't won since Disney at the end of 2008, and the last time he was atop the leaderboard after one round was at Bay Hill in 2010.

"If I had not birdied the last  Mizuno JPX-800 Irons two holes, it still would have been a good start," Love said. "It's fun to tie the course record. And it's fun to shoot low scores."

Nine other players have shot 64 at PGA National, the most recent Graeme McDowell a year ago.

McIlroy also got off to a good start, only this held much more promise.

The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland is looking like the world's best player with each tournament he plays. He won an unofficial event in Shanghai in October, the Hong Kong Open a week later and only once has finished outside the top 10 since the PGA Championship.

A week ago, he lost in the final of the Match Play Championship.

As even more attention shifts to the U.S. Open Mizuno MX-1000 irons champion, McIlroy seems to embrace it. He made his opening round at PGA National look easy, rarely putting pressure on any part of his game.

He birdied the last two holes of the back nine, made the turn and picked up another birdie on the par-4 second by smartly playing short of the bunkers and firing his approach into a breeze to about 18 feet from a back pin. His final birdie came on the par-3 seventh, when caddie J.P. Fitzgerald talked him into a hard 6-iron that stopped 12 feet short of the cup.