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Corey Conners plays his shot from the 18th tee during the first round of the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort Copperhead Course, in Palm Harbor, Fla., on March 8, 2018.Sam Greenwood

Canadian rookie Corey Conners didn't seem too bothered by the tough swirling wind at Innisbrook on Thursday.

The Listowel, Ont., native, who got into the Valspar Championship field as an alternate not long after he failed to get through Monday qualifying, didn't make a bogey until his final hole at No. 9 and shot a four-under 67.

That gave him a one-shot lead over Nick Watney, Whee Kim and Kelly Kraft. Only three other players, including former PGA champion Jimmy Walker, broke 70.

Innisbrook produced the highest average score for the opening round – 72.86 – of the 23 courses used this season. But Conners managed just fine, taking advantage of a tournament he wasn't sure he would be playing.

He went through Monday qualifying and shot 71, but moments after walking off the course, he was told he got in as an alternate.

"Kind of had a mindset of trying to take advantage of a good break, I guess," he said.

Tiger Woods smacked his hands into an oak as he let loose of the club during a bold escape from the trees, came within inches of an ace on the next hole and, most importantly, was among 27 players – a little less than 20 per cent of the field – to break par.

Woods made five birdies to counter his mistakes in his round of 70, the first time he broke par in the opening round of a PGA Tour event since his 64 in the Wyndham Championship in August, 2015 – just six tour events ago because of back surgeries.

This was his first time playing the Valspar Championship, and it got his attention.

"I enjoy when par is a good score. It's a reward," Woods said. "There are some tournaments when about four holes you don't make a birdie, you feel like you're behind. Today, made a couple of birdies, all of a sudden puts me fourth, fifth, right away. That's how hard it is."

It was like that for everybody, especially Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.

Spieth, who won at Innisbrook in a playoff in 2015, didn't make a birdie after the par-five opening hole and shot a 76. Only six other players had a higher score. McIlroy, who like Woods was making his debut in this event, played in the morning and shot 74.

Henrik Stenson, who played with Spieth and Woods, also shot 74.

Watney holed a bunker shot on the par-four 16th, made the turn and had an eagle on the first hole.

"Maybe I need to steal a few shots here and there and get some good things going," said Watney, who has been winless since August, 2012.

Walker (69) and past Innisbrook champion Luke Donald (70) managed to go bogey-free, a rarity on such a day as this. Also at 70 were Justin Rose, Masters champion Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Steve Stricker, who won last week on the PGA Tour Champions.

Last year's champion, Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 71. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Abbotsford's Nick Taylor shot 73s and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., had a 75.

Woods is playing his fourth PGA Tour event since returning from fusion surgery on his lower back, his fourth surgery since the spring of 2014. He has shown steady progress, and this might have been his most steady performance, even with four bogeys. Those were inevitable.

One of the came at the par-three fourth, when he was fooled by the wind and sent his tee shot sailing. It was next to a tree that Woods had to straddle just to advance toward the green. He also came up well short on the 12th into a strong wind.

"Into the wind, it felt like you just hit walls," he said.

Woods got within two shots of the lead by ripping a long iron from the top collar of a bunker on the par-five 11th and using the slope to chip close for a tap-in birdie. He dropped shots on the next two holes, going short into the wind on No. 12 and over the green with the wind at his back on No. 13.

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The Canadian Press

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