Lemont, IL (My Sportsbook) - Rory Sabbatini and Steve Marino both fired rounds of five-under 66 on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the BMW Championship.

Bo Van Pelt and Marc Leishman are tied for third place at four-under 67 at a renovated Cog Hill.

Tiger Woods, a four-time champion, shot a three-under 68 and is tied for fifth.

"I hit the ball well all day," said Woods. "The redesign is certainly different. It's the pin locations. The misses are not where they used to be."

This is the third FedEx Cup playoff event and the field consists of the top-70 players in the points race. After this championship, the field gets trimmed to the top 30 for the Tour Championship in two weeks and after that event, the FedEx Cup champion is crowned.

The co-leaders could use a big week.

Sabbatini is 35th in points and would need a strong showing just to get into the field at the Tour Championship. Marino is 26th, but a high finish this week would insure his place in Atlanta in two weeks.

"These things tend to break out of their cycles, and it was nice to get out there today and actually have a nice fun, relaxing round of golf," said Sabbatini. "The situation being is I've got to go out there for the next three days and do what I did today. I can't go out there and worry about where I've got to finish this weekend or anything like that."

"It's on my mind a little bit, but I'm trying not to think about it too much to be honest with you," admitted Marino. "I'm just trying to go out there and just kind of treat this like any other tournament and just try to do the best I can, because I think if you start thinking about all that stuff and start number crunching in your mind, that's probably not going to be a very good thing."

Woods is second in points behind last week's Deutsche Bank Championship winner Steve Stricker. Woods won the inaugural FedEx Cup title two years ago and would like that title again in 2009, especially in the absence of a major.

Woods started on the 10th tee Thursday and birdied the par-five 11th. He rolled in a five-footer for birdie at 18 to make the turn at two-under, but got to minus-three with a tap-in birdie at the fourth.

Woods hit an errant approach en route to a bogey at the fifth. He birdied the eighth hole and parred nine to get into the clubhouse in 68.

He's only two off the co-leaders and one of them had quite an eventful round to get his piece of first.

Sabbatini was even through five holes thanks to a pair of birdies and a pair of bogeys. He birdied the seventh and eighth holes to make the turn at two- under.

The South African birdied the par-four 13th and he reached the green in two at the par-five 15th. Sabbatini lagged his long eagle putt to tap-in range and tied the lead with his birdie.

Sabbatini got to five-under at the last. He hit a spectacular approach to five feet and holed the putt for a piece of the first-round lead.

It was a tough week for Sabbatini. On Tuesday, International Presidents Cup captain Greg Norman passed over Sabbatini with his captain's picks despite Sabbatini finishing just outside the automatic qualifying.

"Obviously I've struggled over the past couple weeks, couple months, and if I'd been playing well, I'd have something to complain about," said Sabbatini, who said Norman never called him to inform him he wouldn't be on the team. "You could say I was a little disappointed."

Marino, who has never won on tour, but lost a playoff at Colonial this year, traded a bogey and a birdie at two and three, then made back-to-back birdies at eight and nine.

He birdied the par-five 11th and sank a 22-footer for birdie at No. 12. Marino parred his next five, but rolled in an 11-foot birdie putt at the last to join Sabbatini in first.

"Today was a great day," said Marino. "I started off a little bit shaky but made some key putts for par on the front nine to kind of stay even par, and then I birdied eight and nine and then from there on out I played great."

Woods was joined in fifth by defending champion Camilo Villegas, three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, 2001 PGA Champion David Toms, former U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy and John Mallinger.

Phil Mickelson birdied the 17th on Thursday and moved into a tie for 29th at even-par 71.

Stricker managed a one-over 72 and is part of group tied for 39th.