Thomastown, Ireland ? Tiger Woods pursed his lips and cursed under his breath as he stood over his first tee shot, feeling spasms in his back and knowing the sharp pain that was coming with each shot.

He yelped after his second drive. His knees buckled after making contact on the sixth tee. He stopped a half-dozen times and lifted his shirt so his caddie could rub heating cream between his shoulder blades.

What he didn’t expect was the score — a 4-under 68 that left Woods two shots behind British Open champion Todd Hamilton after one painful round in the American Express Championship on Thursday.

“I thought it might loosen up a little bit, but it didn’t,” Woods said. “I was hoping the spasms would go away, but that didn’t happen, either.”

Woods hurt his back when he fell asleep in an awkward position while flying home from New York last week in his private plane. He said on the eve of the tournament that he might not be able to play, an injury report met with skepticism until he showed up on the practice range and went 20 minutes before taking a full swing.

Hamilton had four straight birdies down the stretch before he made his only bogey of the day on the final hole. He wound up with a 66 and a one-stroke lead over a half-dozen players.

Among those at 67 was Adam Scott, who made quite a turnaround. The 23-year-old Aussie couldn’t make a 16-inch putt on the 11th, then couldn’t miss and had five birdies on his final six holes. Sergio Garcia, still riding high from the Ryder Cup, joined European teammates Miguel Angel Jimenez and Luke Donald at 67, along with Steve Flesch and Stuart Appleby.