CHARLOTTE — The crowds on Thursday at the Quail Hollow club gravitated to the 12:50 p.m. tee time of Tiger Woods making his return to the Wells Fargo Championship for the first time in six years, and the distant cheers and the larger-than-normal crowds fueled Keith Mitchell.

With a round of 67 that came from five birdies and a bogey on the 18th hole, the first-year man on the PGA Tour finds his name above the ones of Woods, Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed.

“It’s pretty cool when Tiger is a couple groups behind you, Rickie (Fowler) is two groups behind you and the crowds are awesome. There’s just a lot of good golf fans out there,” Mitchell said. “That’s what we’re out here for and that’s what makes these tournaments what they are.”

Mitchell sits one shot back with five other golfers from John Peterson at 6 under.

In his first full season on Tour, Mitchell has found a rhythm as of late with back-to-back top six finishes at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and the Houston Open in February and March. As one of the top distance drivers on the Tour, Mitchell took advantage of the his length and go as low as 5 under on the round with a birdie on No. 14.

“It’s definitely long and I was fortunate enough to hit my driver very well today,” Mitchell said. “That was huge to give me opportunities to make birdie.

“It’s such a learning curve out here on Tour with the golf courses and the competition and I’m just getting comfortable. I felt like I was in a good place and this golf course sets up well.”

He also was 2 under on the four par 3s.

Peterson used three birdies on a five-hole stretch on his first nine holes to make the turn at 3 under before closing with back-to-back eagles on Nos. 7 and 8 to rebound from a dropped stroke on No. 5.

McIlroy said that his ideal golf course would be designed with trees to line out the fairways, and that’s why Quail Hollow has fared him well in his career. After a 3-under 68 to find himself three shots off the lead in his first action since The Masters, McIlroy struggled to keep his drives in the short grass on Thursday with four fairways hit.

McIlroy used 29 putts in the round, with birdies on all three par 5s.

“I’ve felt really good with the putter the last few weeks, from Bay Hill even through Augusta,” He said. “I’m seeing the lines and putting decent strokes on it and at least giving the ball a chance to get in the hole.”

In his highly anticipated return to Charlotte, Woods was left puzzled by the greens. Woods hit 13 of the 18 greens in regulation, but once on the putting surface he took 31 strokes to finish an even-par round.

“I hit them fine. I just struggled with my speed all day,” Woods said. “With greens this firm, they’re spring and putting slow, so my feel was off all day.”

Woods used consecutive birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 to get to red figures, but had two bogeys and a birdie on the back nine. Like McIlroy, Woods is making his first appearance since The Masters and said that being five strokes out by no means puts him out of position.

“The way the golf course is set up and the way it’s playing right now, the guys are going to be stacked,” he said. “It’s just the way this golf course is playing and the nature of the setup.”

Masters’ champion Patrick Reed sits at even par as well.

Peterson
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By Jonathan Bym

Sports editor

Jonathan Bym can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Jonathan_Bym.