BETHESDA - — BETHESDA - -There were, it would seem, two appropriate and intriguing names that could sit atop the AT&T National leader board at the end of yesterday's first round. With no disrespect intended, that short list did not include D.A. Points or Bryce Molder or Daniel Chopra - fine players all, but something of a who's who of "Who?"
So by noon, when one of those names popped up, Bethesda was buzzing because Anthony Kim, who won this tournament a year ago, shot an 8-under-par 62 to set the course record at Congressional Country Club's immaculate Blue Course. And an hour later, Tiger Woods - the host of this event, the center of the golfing universe - teed off and began his tournament thusly: birdie on No. 1, birdie on No. 2. Instantly, he was in contention. And instantly, there was a commotion.
"I did play very well," Kim said after his morning round, a bit of an understatement considering the six-birdie 29 he shot on the Blue Course's front nine, which he played second. "But that man can go out there and shoot 60, so I'm not really worried about what he's doing."
That, of course, is a perfect attitude for the Thursday of a golf tournament, and Woods, of course, did not shoot 60. But he did respond with a 64. Yes, there were two other 64s: one from Molder, a 30-year-old who has four top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in his career; and the other from Points, who 13 years ago lost a tough quarterfinal match at the U.S. Amateur to Woods and is back on the main circuit after a two-year relegation to the minor league Nationwide Tour.
As fine as those rounds were - and throw in Steve Elkington's surprising 65 and very solid 66s from Jim Furyk, Stuart Appleby and Chopra among other strong starts - the names that mattered were the names of Kim, the 24-year-old who would someday like to challenge Woods in major championships, and Woods, who matters every single time he plays. Kim's round came without a bogey, and going back to last year, he has played 40 consecutive bogey-free holes at Congressional.
Woods' round featured only one bogey, on the difficult par-4 11th, but he responded with a birdie on the 12th, then made two more coming in.
"You can be aggressive," Woods said. "And if you pull it off, this is the day to pull it off."
That is simply because overnight rains made the Blue Course's greens exceptionally soft and, therefore, exceptionally vulnerable.
