He must have had the defending champion's good luck Thursday. The 24-year-old Korean-American had birdies (one stroke under par on a hole) on six of his last nine holes and shot a course record eight-under-par 62 in his first round.

Kim says that he remained focused and did not pay any attention to the pressure of being defending champion. "I think that was the difference today. I really focused on the shot I was hitting at the time and not the next shot. And not on 'man I need to birdie that short par four.' I just stepped up to the tee and said 'this is what I have got to do with this shot' and I moved on from there," he said.

Tiger Woods, 2 Jul 2009

Kim leads world No. 1 Tiger Woods by two strokes after Woods shot a six-under-par 64. Woods, the tournament host is in a three-way tie with countrymen Bryce Molder and D.A. Points.

Woods says that he was not surprised by Kim's low score. "It's amazing on the tour, no matter how windy or rainy or blustery or whatever the conditions are, one person always goes low. And A.K. did it today," he said.

Australian Steve Elkington is in fifth place at five-under-par. The tournament is being played on the Congressional Country Club's Blue course outside Washington, D.C. and is a key warm-up for the British Open at Turnberry, Scotland later this month.