Nick Watney Stole Tiger Woods' Thunder At The WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai

SHANGHAI — American Nick Watney stole Tiger Woods' thunder at the WGC-HSBC Champions on Thursday as he raced to a two shot lead, but the world number one is lurking dangerously three off the pace.

Watney, who qualified for the seven million dollar event by winning February's Buick Invitational on the USPGA Tour, stormed out of the blocks with successive birdies and never looked back.

He finished with an eight-under-par 64 to tie the course record, a score he would have bettered were it not for a bogey on the last hole.

Fellow American Ryan Moore, Germany's Martin Kaymer and Northern Ireland's Shane Lowry all have a share of second after firing 66s.

A group of four players are one further back on five under, including Paul Casey, Anthony Kim and Lin Wen-Tang, the best placed player from the Asian Tour.

They sit alongside Woods, who has made it clear he wants to win this week after finishing second in 2005 and 2006.

The American superstar, who has won an unprecedented 16 of the 30 World Golf Championship events he has entered, started on the 10th and went to the turn at two-under-par with birdies at the 14th and 16th.

Four more birdies on the back nine pushed him up the leaderboard although a bogey on the sixth (his 15th hole) blotted his scorecard.

The tournament has been upgraded to elite WGC status this year and the size of the galleries reflected the surging interest, with more people here on a Thursday than over the weekend in 2008.

Most of the attention was on Woods, with at least 1,000 spectators following him around the par-72 Sheshan Golf Course on a sun-drenched day, with the cameras clicking despite appeals for fans not to take pictures.

His long-time rival Phil Mickelson, the 2007 champion, had a solid day and sits two behind Woods, while European Tour money leader Lee Westwood stroked a 70.

The Englishman is leading the Race to Dubai ahead of Kaymer and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who struggled to a 73.

But it was a disastrous day for defending champion Sergio Garcia with the Spaniard out-of-sorts to be 11 behind Watney.

Asia's first Major winner Yang Youn-Eun, who memorably held off Woods to win here in 2006, hit an even par 72.