Poulter shoots 66 despite opening double

Ian Poulter dug himself out of a hole in spectacular fashion when the third of the FedEx Cup play-off events began at Cog Hill in Illinois on Thursday.

After starting with a double-bogey six - just like Tiger Woods - Poulter came back with an eagle and six birdies for a five-under-par 66 that left him in third spot only two behind leader Matt Kuchar.

Woods, on the other hand, could do no better than a two-over 73, one worse than Phil Mickelson, and will have to play much better to achieve the top-five finish he probably needs to advance to the Tour Championship in Atlanta in two weeks.

Yet the displays by the world number one and number two were still far better than that of Rory McIlroy. The 21-year-old Ulsterman managed only a 76 to be down near the rear of the 70-man field.

At least there is no halfway cut this week and, having come into the week 29th in the play-off standings, McIlroy has time to recover and still be among the 30 who qualify for the final leg.

Poulter had begun on the back nine and at the 386-yard 10th he was bunkered in two, flew the green and then missed from under four feet.

'It was a bit of a kick in the teeth,' he said.

'I needed more than 10 seconds and was glad it was a long walk from the green to the 11th tee. I calmed down pretty quickly and turned a poor mindset into a good one.'

A 73-foot putt on the short 14th certainly helped, as did a 12-footer for eagle on the next and a chip-in birdie from nearly 55 feet at the 18th.

By then Kuchar, the man everybody has to catch in the play-offs after his win in New Jersey two weeks ago, was already in with his 64.

Despite feeling unwell he also eagled the 15th, matched Poulter's six birdies and dropped his only stroke on the 383-yard eighth, where he went from one bunker to another.

Winner of the US Amateur title on the course in 1997 - he followed three-time champion Woods - Kuchar said: 'I've got good memories of this place, so it continued to go well for me.

'Last week was a little bit suspect and this week I kind of figured some stuff out, hitting the ball solid and making some putts.'

He led Ryan Moore, another former US Amateur champion, by one after Moore came bursting out of the pack with seven birdies in eight holes from the 11th for an inward 29.

Luke Donald and Justin Rose set off with 68s and Paul Casey with a 69, but Martin Laird and Brian Davis could do no better than 73.

Donald, joint second on Monday, five strokes behind Charley Hoffman, and Rose both had six birdies and three bogeys, with

Donald saying: 'Three bogeys was a little disappointing just because I didn't short game it well enough from relatively simple up-and-downs.'

Woods was in trouble from the moment he found sand with his second shot and, after leaving his recovery short, missed from four feet.

There were some brilliant shots after that, but most of them were from trouble spots and Corey Pavin's most high-profile wild card clearly still has not bedded in the swing changes he is undergoing with new coach Sean Foley.

He ended the day outside the top 40, while McIlroy had only JB Holmes and Andres Romero behind him.