Norton, MA (My Sportsbook) - Tiger Woods was in a joke-telling mood Friday after opening with a one-under 70 at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

His deficit was no laughing matter, however -- Woods was already seven shots off the lead shared by Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker at eight-under 63.

"I didn't really do much of anything positively today. I didn't feel good over any shot today and didn't drive it very good, hit my irons worse and didn't make any putts," Woods said.

And then he deadpanned: "Other than that, it was a good day."

On a sunny Friday full of jackrabbit starts -- 64 players in the 99-man field broke par on the defenseless TPC Boston course -- Furyk and Stricker both finished without a bogey to share a two-stroke lead over Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera, Justin Leonard, Scott Verplank and Matt Kuchar.

Furyk, feeling comfortable with every part of his game, hit all 18 greens in regulation and posted his best round in a year. He tied Stricker late in the afternoon with a closing three-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole.

"I'd much rather shot 61 and missed a couple (greens)," Furyk said.

Stricker, after beginning his round on No. 10, birdied five straight holes around the turn and then cooled off with five consecutive pars to take the early clubhouse lead.

He ranks No. 2 behind Woods in the current FedEx Cup standings, two years after he won the first-ever PGA Tour playoffs event in 2007.

"I feel comfortable with my game the last three years since these playoffs have started. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it," said Stricker. "I'm riding it out. It's been good, and I just wake up and try to do the same things every day."

Woods would like to stop having the same slow start.

Since losing the PGA Championship to Y.E. Yang three weeks ago, Woods has started his last two tournaments with first-round 70s. Last week, it put him five shots off the 18-hole lead and needing a weekend rally, which he nearly executed.

Woods, Stricker, Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington tied for second place at The Barclays behind surprise winner Heath Slocum.

On Friday, Woods' slow start meant a daunting seven-stroke deficit to a pair of co-leaders with 19 combined PGA Tour wins.

"I've felt pretty good going into today," said Woods. "Unfortunately I just didn't hit the ball as well as I wanted to and certainly didn't make anything."

Making matters worse, Woods had a front-row seat to Stricker's 63 while playing in the same threesome with the man who sits on his heels at the top of the playoff standings.

"We thought he was going to shoot 62 at the turn the way he was going," Woods, the 2006 Deutsche Bank champion, said of Stricker.

The early number posted by Stricker left half of the field playing catch-up, but only Furyk made it all the way. He needed all 18 holes to do it, moving within one with an eight-foot birdie putt at the 17th and then tying Stricker with his short birdie at the last.

Ranked 18th in the FedEx cup standings, Furyk played in a threesome Friday that included Goosen and Sean O'Hair (66). Feeding off each other's momentum, they combined to shoot 19-under par.

"It's good to see other putts go in," Furyk said of the low-scoring group.

O'Hair shared eighth place with Geoff Ogilvy, Jerry Kelly, Troy Matteson and Jason Dufner, while defending champion Vijay Singh led an 11-way tie at 67 that also included Harrington and David Toms.

Phil Mickelson, the 2007 champion, opened with an even-par 71 and was tied for 65th place.