Chalmers leads, Woods struggles in Maryland

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Australia's Chalmers has never won on the illustrious tour, but shot a five-under 66 on Thursday to set the pace at Congressional Country Club in Maryland.

Chalmers, starting on the back nine, turned at three under but bogeyed the 11th, only to fire three straight birdies at seven, eight and nine to storm to the outright lead.

A shot behind are American Ricky Barnes and Sweden's Freddie Jacobson after rounds of 67.

Well off the pace, however, is Woods, who shot seven bogeys in his three-over 74, but did recover from being six over to be in a tie for 83rd spot.

Woods has slipped to fifth in the world rankings, after a back injury saw him sidelined for over three months.

Tied for fourth in Bethesda are Americans Patrick Reed, Erik Compton and Bill Haas, alongside South Africa's Tyrone Van Aswegen on three under.

Haas' title defence got off to a flying start, as he carded three birdies in his first eight holes, but he could not build any further on it.

Hudson Swafford, Nick Watney, George McNeill, Bill Hurley III, Spencer Levin and Michael Putnam are the local contingent at two under, tied for eighth with South African Retief Goosen and KJ Choi of South Korea.

Joining Woods as a high-profile player to struggle in his opening 18 holes was Australia's Jason Day, as the sixth-ranked golfer carded a two-over 73.

Similarly to Woods, though, Day carded five bogeys on his front nine, before going two under on his back nine - finishing strongly with birdies at six and seven.

Other top-10 players in the field American Jordan Spieth and England's Justin Rose also battled to three over, as well as world number 19 Jason Dufner, to be level with Woods.

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