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Reed grabs Doral lead as Woods and Scott struggle

Steve Keating

By Steve Keating DORAL, Florida (Reuters) - American Patrick Reed grabbed a one-shot lead at the end of the rain-delayed opening round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Friday while Tiger Woods saved his day with a blazing finish. Reed, who had a four-way share of the overnight lead when play was halted due to darkness, returned early on Friday to complete his final seven holes en route to a four-under 68. Compatriots Harris English, Jason Dufner, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Italian Francesco Molinari were all a further shot back. But most of the drama was taking place behind the front-runners as an Australian world number two Adam Scott endured roller-coaster finishes to their opening rounds. Woods, a seven-times winner of the WGC-Cadillac, picked up where he left on Thursday. After bogeying the 10th in the evening dusk Woods returned to the Blue Monster layout in the morning sun and promptly bogeyed the 11th to go to three over. The defending champion's woes continued with a bogey at 13 and a double-bogey at 14 to send him plummeting down the leaderboard. But Woods hit back with three straight birdies from the 15th to claw his way back into contention before finding the water on the 18th to finish with yet another bogey and four-over 76. Playing partner Scott, who will have a chance to replace Woods as world number one with a win this week, began his day one shot back of the leaders but quickly found himself heading in the wrong direction with a double-bogey on 11. Things continued to go from bad to worse for the Masters champion with a horrendous stretch of holes that included a bogey at 13, a double-bogey at 14 and another bogey at 15. But like Woods, Scott halted the slide with birdies at 16 and 17 before one final bogey at the last left him on three-over 75, seven back of the leader. With the sun shining and wind blowing, golfers were quickly back out on the course in an attempt to get the $9 million event back on schedule. (Editing by Frank Pingue)