WATCH: Tiger Woods drains 33-foot birdie to tie for early PGA Championship lead

Tiger Woods putts at PGA Championship

Tiger Woods attempts a birdie putt on the 13th hole Thursday at the 2020 PGA Championship.

Outside expectations were pretty low for Tiger Woods heading into the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park, the first major championship of the year. But it didn’t take long for Tiger to exceed them in the first round on Thursday.

Woods opened his day on the par-5 10th hole with a few squirrely shots — a drive that jumped into the left rough, followed by a fairway wood that caught the grass and sent his ball careening well to the right of the green.

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But Tiger cleaned up his nervous start with a vintage flop shot that set up an opening birdie.

At the difficult par-4 13th hole, he added an even bigger exclamation point.

After hitting a solid drive into the right side of the fairway, Tiger knocked his 180-yard approach shot safely on the front of the green.

Then, standing 33 yards from the cup, the 15-time major champion hit a confident stroke and watched his ball dive into the hole for an unexpected second birdie.

Without any fans in attendance, the dramatic putt was met with deafening silence at Harding Park, and Tiger didn’t bother to add a fist-pump. The birdie also tied him for the very, very early lead at two under with a host of other players, including Dustin Johnson

Check out the putt below.

Kevin Cunningham

Kevin Cunningham

Golf.com Editor

As managing producer for GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes stories on GOLF.com, and manages the brand’s e-newsletters, which reach more than 1.4 million subscribers each month. A former two-time intern, he also helps keep GOLF.com humming outside the news-breaking stories and service content provided by our reporters and writers, and works with the tech team in the development of new products and innovative ways to deliver an engaging site to our audience.