Sean O'Hair and Tiger Woods reverse course; one good, one bad

Tiger Woods failed to carry any momentum he had from his last tournament into the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Likewise for Sean O'Hair .

That was only good news for one of them Thursday in The Northern Trust.

O'Hair missed the cut last week and had his FedEx Cup standing slip to No. 121, meaning he has to play well this week or his season is over. His immediate goal is to advance to the third stage of events because the BMW Championship is at Aronimink outside Philadelphia, where O'Hair is a member.

He drilled a 3-wood from 284 yards to 6 feet for eagle on No. 3. He hammered another 3-wood on the par-5 17th to 10 feet, settling for a two-putt birdie. That carried O'Hair to a 5-under 66, giving him a share of the lead with Kevin Tway, Jamie Lovemark and Vaughn Taylor.

"I'm obviously very disappointed that I'm not in a better position, but I'm kind of in charge of my destiny," O'Hair said. "If I play good golf I'm just going to work into the next week."

Woods, playing for the first time since his runner-up finish at the PGA Championship, had a pair of birdies, a pair of bogeys, a lot of pars and a 71. He was five shots behind and in a tie for 60th. After a rough start off the tee, Woods wound up hitting nine of 14 fairways. He just never got it close enough for good looks at birdie.

Dustin Johnson rimmed out a 6-iron on the par-3 sixth for one of his seven birdies to offset a triple bogey for a 67. U.S. Open and PGA champion Brooks Koepka ran off four birdies and an eagle for his 67. FedEx Cup champion Justin Thomas had four birdies in his round of 69.

Johnson could tell his 6-iron was close to perfect from the flight of the shot, where it landed and the reaction of the fans behind the par-3 sixth green as the ball rolled around left edge of the cup.

Or were they cheering because Woods teed off on the hole ahead of them?

"I was kind of debating whether they were yelling for me or him," Johnson said with a smile.

Snedeker withdraws

Snedeker is coming off a victory in the Wyndham Championship, his first in two years that moved him to No. 30 in the FedEx Cup playoffs. By withdrawing Thursday, he will drop in the standings because points count four times more than in the regular season.

Three share LPGA lead

Ariya Jutanugarn birdied five of her last eight holes for an 8-under 64 and a share of the CP Women's Open lead at rain-softened Wascana Country Club.

Nasa Hataoka and Mariajo Uribe joined the second-ranked Jutanugarn atop the leaderboard, with Canadian star Brooke Henderson and three-time champion Lydia Ko two strokes back.

With players allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairways because of the damp conditions, Jutanugarn birdied the first four holes and finished with nine birdies and a bogey in the morning round in sunny, hot conditions.

Serena and Venus Williams could be headed toward their earliest Grand Slam meeting in 20 years, facing a potential third-round matchup at the U.S. Open.

If the sisters do play each other, the winner might face No. 1-ranked Simona Halep in the fourth round.

In the men's field, No. 1-ranked and defending champion Rafael Nadal opens against David Ferrer in an all-Spanish rematch of their 2013 French Open final. No. 2 Roger Federer plays Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round.

Hayley Wickenheiser, one of the top players in women's hockey history, joined the Maple Leafs' front office. The longtime star of Canada's national team is the NHL club's new assistant director of player development.

She will monitor prospects in the Western Hockey League and is expected to travel to Toronto a few times a month to work with players on both the Leafs and the American Hockey League's Marlies.