Luke Donald and Lee Westwood both made impressive starts to The Players Championship in Florida as they began their bids to make it three European victories in a row at the event.
The duo carded five under 67s to sit in a group of eight players a shot behind leaders Robert Allenby of Australia and American JB Holmes.
Tiger Woods started with a drive into trees and ended with another into a lake, but in between dug so deep that he was able to sign for an opening two under par 70.
Six days after his dreadful 79 at Quail Hollow, Woods matched the score of Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who could take his World Number One spot on Sunday, but they were four behind Allenby and Holmes.
There had been criticism of Woods' swing following his missed cut - by a massive eight strokes - last week, but he said after his three-birdie, one-bogey round: "People need to be realistic.
"I'd had only six competitive rounds in seven months. It takes time. It takes tournaments. I don't feel too bad about it."
Rory McIlroy, the winner on Sunday, managed only a one over 73 and like Woods went into the water on the dangerous 18th - it was his ninth - but Donald and Westwood both made magnificent birdies there to finish with 67s.
While Donald - runner up in 2005 - was all smiles, compatriot Greg Owen was all seething fury after becoming yet another victim of one of the most famous holes in the sport.
A quadruple bogey seven on the tiny 137 yard 17th left the Mansfield player ready to explode after he handed in a one over 73.
"I'm not saying a word about the 17th - I'm fuming at the moment," said Owen when asked by a US Tour official to speak to reporters.
"Forget the 17th please. This is The Players Championship, I've not had a great year, I was playing nicely and I go and do that."
Owen's nine iron tee shot to the near island green failed to carry the water and then from the drop zone his next attempt was nowhere near making it over.
"I hit two bad shots. There's no wind, the greens are soft, it's easy - what more do you need to know?"
Donald had four birdies in five holes around the turn and after bogeying the 15th hit a superb approach to six feet on the formidable 462 yard last and made the birdie putt.
"You don't often get to see this course with hardly any wind and soft greens and it was nice to take advantage," he said. "At the 18th you'd take four pars every time."
Westwood did not make a mistake until hitting his approach to the long 16th into the water at virtually the same moment Woods found the lake off the final tee.
It cost the European Number One and World Number Four a bogey six, but his second shot to within five feet on the 462 yard last made up for it.
Holmes did not drop a shot in his pacesetting 66, but Allenby then reached seven under after 13 holes before making a lone bogey at the difficult short eighth.
Owen was not the only player to have a seven on his card. Paul Casey had one too on the long ninth - three of them were bunker shots - and also returned a 73.
Padraig Harrington had bogey sixes at the second and 11th and had to settle for the same score, but Ross Fisher and defending champion Stenson produced 69s.
Italian Francesco Molinari needed to birdie the long ninth to be joint leader, but instead ran into bunker trouble and with a bogey six dropped to 68.
McIlroy, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Tuesday, said: "I found it quite tough to get anything going and struggled to read these Bermuda greens.
"There was definitely a different atmosphere to Sunday. I hit it OK apart from a terrible shot on the eighth and it's so bunched that a good start tomorrow can get me into the top 20."
