Stricker & Furyk Lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship

Golf writer Andy Reistetter is on-site at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass., providing daily reports covering the action in and outside the ropes.

Having attended the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Honda Classic, WGC-CA Championship, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, Masters Tournament, Verizon Heritage, Zurich Classic of New Orleans, THE PLAYERS Championship, U.S. Open at Bethpage, AT&T National, British Open at Turnberry, PGA at Hazeltine and The Barclays last week, this is Andy's 14th event of the season.   

Here are his notes from the first round on Friday, Sept. 4.

Well surprise, surprise! Look who last week's playoff winner Heath Slocum was paired with today in the first round off the 10th tee at 8:40 a.m. on a picture-perfect early September day in the Northeast?

The two guys who failed to make a putt on the 18^thgreen to force a playoff with him: five-time winner on the PGA TOUR this year—though "Majorless"—Tiger Woods and the winner of the first PGA TOUR Playoff event two years ago at the Barclays and two-time winner this year Steve Stricker.

Slocum's 2-under 69 beat the inaugural 2007 FedExCup Champion Woods' 70, but was trumped heavily by Stricker's eight-birdie bogeyless 8-under 63.

Last week's new golf course on the PGA TOUR- Liberty National leveled the playing field for Slocum's unlikely upset victory.

For Woods, last week was a week of poor putting and a week of dodging the media inquisition into his failure to continue an impressive 14 for 14 streak of winning Majors when it counted leading after three rounds.

This week it is neither, as he succinctly made a statement at the start of his post-round interview:   

"I didn't really do much of anything positively today. I didn't feel good over any shot today and didn't drive it very good, hit my irons worse and didn't make any putts. Other than that, it was a good day."

Was Woods distracted in any way by Stricker's impressive play?

"No, I've got to worry about my own game. It's a four-day tournament. If you have a bad day, the whole idea is just to mitigate the mistakes and keep yourself in the ballgame. Today is a day I certainly could have shot over par, but I kept it under par, so that's a good sign."

Stricker got off to a birdie-birdie start before he birdied five holes in a row (Nos. 18,1, 2, 3, and 4), getting it to 8-under after 12 holes to finish with six straight pars.

What makes Stricker tick for the playoffs?

"It's just the time of the year. I guess we're winding down on the season, there's a lot at stake, and I don't know what it is, if I reach another level of focus or whatever, but I feel comfortable with my game the last three years since these Playoffs have started. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it."

It seems Stricker can handle playing with the Tiger galleries as well as anyone on the Tour.

"I guess I'm to the point where I'm comfortable with what I'm doing, and I'm really not worrying about him," Stricker said.

It seems to be more than an external physical matter; something inside Stricker has clicked when it comes to playing well when paired with the world's No. 1-ranked golfer for well over the last four years.

"When he first came out and I was trying to stack up my game with his, it didn't stack up. I'm over that. I don't care. He can do all those great things, and I'll just do the things that I need to do to try to play well. I think once I took that pressure off me, off myself, it kind of freed me up a little bit to play with him."

Another Tour veteran, Jim Furyk, posted a 63 in the afternoon to tie Stricker for the lead.

Furyk's round like Stricker's included eight birdies and no bogeys. Unlike Stricker's, he started on No. 1 at 12:46 p.m. with four in a row and five of the first six holes before parring seven holes in the middle. He birdied No. 14 and the last two holes.

Furyk's last win came in 2007 at the Canadian Open. Though he has averaged $3 million in winnings these last two winless years, the No. 13-ranked golfer admits to being frustrated a bit.

"Yeah, because it sounds like the same stuff every time about last year at this time. I've had two pretty solid years. I wasn't able to win last year in '08 and I haven't been able to win this year in '09, and yeah, it absolutely eats at me.

"I'm trying my best, I'm playing my hardest, I'm working hard, and I think when you're doing that, you go home and you can sleep."

Most would agree it is only a matter of time before Furyk wins again—maybe even a matter of days or weeks during this PGA TOUR playoff season.

Notable scores include a 6-under-65 by Masters Champion Angel Cabrera. He is tied for second place with Scott Verplank, Justin Leonard, Retief Goosen and upstart Matt Kuchar.

Geoff Ogilvy, who won twice early in the year but hasn't had a Top 10 since the Memorial, shot a 5-under 66 along with Jerry Kelly, Troy Matteson, Sean O'Hair and Jason Dufner.

Padraig Harrington, like Tiger Woods winless in Majors this year—and unlike Tiger winless on the PGA TOUR in 16 starts this year—shot 4-under 67.

Vijay Singh, defending Deutsche Bank and FedExCup Champion, also shot 67 to stay in the hunt for this year's FedExCup.

U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover shot a 2-under 69 while British Open Champion Stewart Cink, PGA Champion Y.E. Yang, and Phil Mickelson shot even-par 71s.

The average score for the first round was 69.7, or just more than two strokes under par.

If the cut came today to the low-70s golfers and ties, it would have come at even-par 71.

That cut would have seen guys like Ian Poulter (72), Hunter Mahan (73), Fred Couples (74), Ernie Els (75) and Robert Allenby (76) going home for the rest of the Labor Day weekend.

It is playoff time on the PGA TOUR!

Who will win the Deutsche Bank Championship?

Who will be among the top 70 points-earners and advance to next week's BMW Championship at the revamped Cog Hill outside Chicago?

Who will then be among the top 30 points-earners and advance to the TOUR Championship two weeks later at East Lake in Atlanta?

Who will be the 2009 FedExCup Champion?

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]