Solid start by Woods at Pebble Beach

REUTERS - Tiger Woods made a confident start to his 2012 PGA Tour campaign, mixing three birdies with a lone bogey in his first nine holes at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Thursday.

Watched by huge galleries after teeing off at the par-four 10th on the heavily tree-lined Spyglass Hill Golf Course, the former world number one reached the turn at two-under 34, five strokes off the early pace in the opening round.

On a glorious sun-splashed morning, Woods made a sizzling start with consecutive birdies, hitting a superb approach to three feet at the par-four 10th and narrowly missing an eagle putt from 14 feet at the par-five 11th.

The 14-times major winner made his first mistake of the day at the par-four 13th where he pulled his tee shot into the left fairway bunker. From an awkward stance, Woods failed to reach the green in two and ended up with a bogey.

After comfortably parring the next three holes, he picked up another shot at the par-four 17th where his approach shot pitched beyond the cup and spun back to within 10 feet.

Another par followed at the 18th for Woods to enter his back nine at two under on the most difficult of the three venues hosting this week's event.

On a relatively benign day on the picturesque Monterey Peninsula, most of the low scoring was expected to be produced by players starting out on the par-72 Pebble Beach Golf Links where Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open by a record 15 shots.

Pebble Beach National Pro-Am champion in 2000, Woods is back at the event for the first time in a decade as he also marks his debut appearance on the 2012 PGA Tour.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)