Mike Weir turned in the best round of his career - and he did not even see it coming.
Weir stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the Deutsche Bank Championship by firing a career-best 10-under-par 61 in Friday's opening round.
The Canadian left-hander holed 10 birdies in a bogey-free round to take a three-shot lead in this year's second event of the FedEx Cup playoffs and tie the course record at TPC Boston.
It was the last thing that Weir, a 10-year veteran, expected following his late collapse last week at The Barclays.
"There was no indication on the putting green warming up that was going to tell me it was going to be like that," Weir said. "It was just one of those days where I made about a 15-footer on the first hole and another on the second hole, and then I had about eight feet on the third hole, and it looked easy after the first two."
The single-round record at this 7,304-yard course previously was held by Vijay Singh, who was the early leader Friday afternoon after carding a seven-under 64.
Weir, 38, began his round in blistering fashion, birdying his first four holes and making the turn at six-under 30 after birdying the sixth and seventh. He continued his onslaught on the back nine, where he also birdied the 10th and 13th holes.
"I just built on that momentum and just kept doing the same thing, keep the pedal down, because I knew the scores were pretty low today," Weir said. "After making those putts, everything seemed to look easier.
"I just tried to stay in that frame of mind when I got to the green, just remembering the last putt."
Weir, who still is winless on the PGA Tour this season, finished off his outstanding round in style with birdies at the par-four 15th and par-five 18th.
"It's been my goal the last month or so to get off to better starts in tournaments," he said. "It seems like I've been coming from behind all the way, even when I finished second at the Memorial (three months ago)."
Weir was in contention at The Barclays last week before a final-round 72 landed him two shots off the pace.
But courtesy of his exploits Friday, Weir is three strokes clear of a quartet of golfers. That group is headlined by Singh, last weekend's winner who entered this event with a 5,125-point lead atop the FedEx Cup standings.
Tied with Singh are John Merrick, Briny Baird and Heath Slocum.
Five days after outlasting Sergio Garcia in a playoff at The Barclays, Singh rebounded from a slow start along the back nine to sink five birdies in a six-hole stretch starting at the par-5 second hole.
"I have a great attitude on the greens," said Singh, who recently reverted to the mid-length belly putter after struggling for a while with a regular putter. "I just listen to my head, and my head's very positive. I think that's the best attitude you can have, just listen to your own mind."
As well as he putted, stellar iron play was perhaps the strongest part of Singh's game, with all of his birdies coming from inside seven feet.
Merrick birdied four of his first seven holes and ended his round in thrilling fashion with an eagle on the 18th. Baird sank seven birdies, including three in a row from numbers 15-17, in his bogey-free round, while Slocum holed nine birdies against two bogeys.
Garcia fired a four-under 67, while defending champion Phil Mickelson carded a two-under 69.
Collated second-round scores (USA unless stated, par 71):
61 Mike Weir (Can)
64 Vijay Singh (Fij), John Merrick, Briny Baird, Heath Slocum
65 Eric Axley, Ben Curtis
66 Jeff Overton, John Mallinger, Charles Howell III, Kevin Streelman, Charlie Wi (Kor), Steve Marino, Anthony Kim, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els (Rsa), Ken Duke, Tim Clark (Rsa)
67 Charley Hoffman, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Tommy Armour III, Chad Campbell, Justin null Bolli, Ryan Palmer, Bo Van Pelt, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Stewart Cink, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Richard S Johnson (Swe), Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Brandt Snedeker, Jonathan Byrd, Ryan Moore, D.J. Trahan
68 Patrick Sheehan, Lucas Glover, Steve Flesch, Brian Gay, Andres Romero (Arg), Paul Casey (Eng), J J Henry, Jay Williamson, Camilo Villegas (Col), Johnson Wagner, Jesper Parnevik (Swe)
69 Steve Stricker, Scott McCarron, Pat Perez, Bart Bryant, John Senden (Aus), Tom Pernice Jnr., Nick O'Hern (Aus), Mark Wilson, Chez Reavie, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Bill Haas, Brett Quigley, KJ Choi (Kor), Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Scott Verplank, Rocco Mediate
70 Billy Mayfair, Kevin Sutherland, Sean O'Hair, Martin Laird (Sco), Boo Weekley, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Brian Davis (Eng), Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Adam Scott (Aus), Bubba Watson, Jason null Day (Aus), Hunter Mahan, Robert Allenby (Aus), Mathew Goggin (Aus), Ian Poulter (Eng), Retief Goosen (Rsa)
71 Dudley Hart, Rodney Pampling (Aus), Lee Janzen, Matt Kuchar, Parker McLachlin, Peter Lonard (Aus), Dean Wilson, Michael Allen, George McNeill, Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Tim Petrovic, Corey Pavin, Stephen Ames (Can)
72 Kenny Perry, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Ben Crane, Paul Goydos, Tim Herron, Jeff Quinney, Rich Beem, Woody Austin, Glen Day, Cliff Kresge, Steve Elkington (Aus)
73 Nick Watney, Jerry Kelly, John Rollins, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Frank Lickliter II
74 Michael Letzig, Kevin Na, J.B. Holmes, Nicholas Thompson, Fred Couples
75 Steve Lowery, Padraig Harrington (Irl)
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