NORTON, Mass. — Tiger Woods was expecting the worst at the Deutsche Bank Championship, and that's what he got.

Only it was from his game, not from Hurricane Earl.

Even after the late starters on the TPC Boston came in from occasional bursts of rain — none of them able to catch Zach Johnson and Jason Day atop the leaderboard at 8-under 63 — they realized they got off the course in reasonable shape. The outer bands of Earl delivered some rain Friday, but not the big gusts everyone was expecting. And the first round was completed despite a 1Z\x-hour rain delay.

That didn't help Woods.

Coming off his best tournament since June, and needing a solid week to advance to the third round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, Woods opened with four bogeys in six holes. He hit one shot sideways across the fairway to escape nasty rough. He had to scramble for bogey on another. Six holes into the opening round, he was last in the field of 99 players.

"I didn't drive it very good. I didn't putt good. I didn't hit my irons good," he said. "Other than that, it was a good day."

He salvaged a 1-over 72, which left him nine shots out of the lead. More troubling to the world's No. 1 player, he was three shots below the projected cut line. If he doesn't make the cut, he will not be eligible to defend his title next week outside Chicago.