Defending champion Tiger Woods produced his most consistent ball striking since he remodeled his swing for a 2-under 69 to finish within touching distance of the Australian Masters first-round leaders yesterday in Melbourne.

Woods is four shots behind the leading trio of Alistair Presnell, Adam Bland and Daniel Gaunt - all Australians.

Woods posted three birdies and a bogey in his first round in near perfect conditions at Victoria Golf Club but was left to rue some wayward putting.

"That was probably the highest score I could have shot today," the world No. 2 said. "I really played well and hit a lot of good shots.

"I'm probably hitting the ball better for stretches of six or seven holes but nothing like this for the entire day. I really hit it good today."

Woods has not won a title since claiming the gold jacket at nearby Kingston Heath on Melbourne's sandbelt a year ago, shortly before stories about his personal life quickly developed into a storm that wrecked his marriage, tarnished his clean-cut image and caused him to take a break from golf.

He also remodeled his swing under the tutelage of swing coach Sean Foley earlier this year and said he felt yesterday's round was the best he had hit the ball on the first day of a tournament since he made the adjustments.

"I hit it pretty good in China last week but not like this," he said. "I gave myself a bunch of looks... for birdie. Every putt was just a little bit shy.

"I felt I was hitting them on all my lines but I wasn't hitting them hard enough and they were dying in front of the lip.

"If I just could have holed a few more putts, it could been a really good round. It could have been easily four, five, six under... but I'm right there."

Presnell mixed five birdies with an eagle and a bogey six on his final hole, while Bland strung together five birdies in his final six holes to top the leaderboard after teeing off early.

Gaunt joined them with the best round in the afternoon with seven birdies and a solitary bogey at the par-four 13th.

Colombia's Camilo Villegas was the next best of the vaunted 'big five' with an even par 71 after a birdie on 18, while Australia's 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy was 1 over.

Two-time winner Robert Allenby was a further stroke back on 2 over after he mixed five birdies with seven bogeys while Spain's Sergio Garcia slumped to 4 over before successive birdies on his closing two holes rescued his round and he also finished on 2 over.