Tiger Woods Delivers Strong 1st Round at 2018 Bridgestone Invitational

Tiger Woods has found his groove this season.

Building upon his strong play at the British Open last month, Woods posted a 4-under 66 Thursday during the opening round of the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. At the time of publication, that put him in a tie for eighth place, trailing leader Kyle Stanley by three strokes.

It doesn't come as a surprise that Woods played well at the Bridgestone, however. As Justin Ray of the Golf Channel noted, Woods has a long history of putting forth his best effort at this tournament, and his hot start bodes well for the rest of the tourney: 

All in all, it was a great day for Woods:

"Didn't hit it as well as I wanted, but I grinded out a score," Woods said after the round, per Tiger Tracker.

"I felt today a good score would be a 67 or so, but it's soft and the ball is flying forever," he added.

You can see Woods' full post-round comments below: 

Woods started on the back nine and played well, with birdies on Nos. 11, 16 and 18: 

He continued his strong play on the front nine, with birdies on Nos. 5 and 7: 

A bogey on No. 9 to close his round was a disappointment. But all in all, Woods was excellent, hitting 72.2 percent of greens in regulation and gaining 1.132 strokes putting, per PGATour.com.

If Woods can maintain this level of play, he'll be a major contender at the Bridgestone. Opening rounds haven't been his forte this season—coming into Thursday, his best opening round this season was a 68 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

At the British Open, his best round at Carnoustie came on Saturday, when his 66 put him in contention. He followed that with a 71, his third such score of the tournament, but having Woods in contention in a major on a Sunday certainly left the golf world excited.

Thursday's strong start is sure to do the same. It might be a bit early for the "Tiger is back, baby!" pronouncements, but there's not questioning that he's been excellent in his last nine rounds. It appears Woods has hit his stride.