Tiger Woods had the best five-hole start of his career, chipping in for eagle and making four birdies.

Woods finished with a season-low 9-under 63 yesterday in the Buick Open at Grand Blanc Township, Mich., to shoot up the leaderboard. The round was his best round in relation to par in four years.

Woods was coming off what he said was probably the worst putting day of his career Thursday, leading to a lackluster 71 in his first competitive round since missing the cut at the British Open.

He quickly clawed back into contention with his birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie tear and finished the day 10 under for the tournament.

Woods eagled the 340-yard, par-4 12th, hitting a chip from about 40 yards that bounced on the green and landed in the cup.

"It was kind of luck," he said. "I hit it too hard, but somehow it caught the bottom."

Woods entered the weekend four strokes back in a pack of six.

John Senden shot a 66 to take the second-round lead at 14 under, two shots ahead of Michael Letzig (65).

Woods had his best round, in relation to par, since an 11-under 61 at the 2005 Buick Open.

GATTI DEATH

ANOTHER AUTOPSY TO BE PERFORMED

Boxer Arturo Gatti's body was exhumed yesterday to allow the Quebec coroner's office to perform a new autopsy at his family's request.

The development comes a day after Brazilian police classified Gatti's death as a suicide.

Until Thursday, police in the northeastern Brazil city of Recife considered it a homicide, with his wife as the prime suspect. Now, police say Gatti hanged himself with a handbag strap from a staircase column more than seven feet off the ground.

The autopsy will be performed this morning at the Montreal morgue.

ELSEWHERE

U.S. Senior Open: Tennessee amateur Tim Jackson shot a 5-under 67 at Crooked Stick to take the lead at 11-under 133 at the U.S. Senior Open in Carmel, Ind.

The 50-year-old real estate developer — matching the lowest 36-hole total in event history.

He opened with a 66 on Thursday, the best score in history by an amateur in the tournament.

Tennis: Wimbledon champion Serena Williams lost to Australia's Samantha Stosur, falling, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, Calif.

Stosur saved nine of 10 break points and played a steady game against the top-seeded Williams, who had a nine-match winning streak snapped.

Softball: Natasha Watley and Jenae Leles drove in three runs each to lead the United States to an 11-3 win over Australia in the Japan Cup softball tournament at Sendai, Japan.

The game was called after the fifth inning.

Jennie Finch got the victory.

Track: Tyson Gay overcame a poor start to edge fellow American Darvis Patton in the 100 meters at the DN Gala meet at Stockholm, clocking a wind-aided 9.79 seconds.

Patton was timed in 9.95 and former world record-holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica finished third in 9.98.