Woods leads the Quail Hollow Championship

Tiger Woods finished with a flourish to establish a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Quail Hollow Championships in Charlotte.

The 33-year-old birdied six of his last nine holes on his way to a seven-under-par 65 to establish a first round lead over Steve Marino, Phil Mickelson, Jason Dufner and Robert Allenby who are tied for second on five under.

South Africa's Retief Goosen, Jeff Maggert, Hunter Mahan and Lucas Glover sit in a group tied for sixth, a shot further back at four under.

'I hit the ball actually not bad today. I hit a couple loose shots here and there but I putted really well,' said Woods after his first appearance since his sixth-placed finish at The Masters.

'I had a couple of key saves, made a nice little up-and-down at two and just a really good save at four that kept the round going. It's always nice when you birdie the last three.

'The pins are I won't say the most difficult, but they're definitely testy, and these greens have got some speed to them on some of the pin locations.

'You miss the ball above the hole, it's got some speed to it. Luckily enough I was able to put the ball below the hole most of the day and had uphill putts.'

Defending champion Anthony Kim and 2009 Masters winner Angel Cabrera began with opening rounds of two-under-par 70, while Ireland's Padraig Harrington and England's Ross Fisher finished at one-over-par, a shot clear of Justin Rose.

Four-under after 10 holes, Harrington dropped five strokes on his last two for a disappointing 73.

The Irishman triple-bogeyed the par-three 17th after pulling his tee shot into the lake left of the green, then drove into a fairway creek on the 18th to finish with a double bogey.