Tiger Woods returned to Firestone and had his lowest opening round of the year at the Bridgestone Invitational. It was barely enough to keep pace.

Conditions were so soft and vulnerable Thursday that Kyle Stanley opened with a seven-under 63 among the early starters, but was overtaken at the top of the leaderboard by Ian Poulter, who scored an eight-under 62.

Woods, an eight-time winner at Firestone, ended the first round tied for 14th. He made five birdies, including a 50-foot putt from just short of the 18th green as he was making the turn – but a bogey on his final hole left him on 66.

“I didn’t quite hit it as well as I wanted to,” Woods said. “But I fought out a score today, which was good I’ve had so many great memories here. Hopefully, I can have one more.”

Ian Poulter leads the way at the end of the first round after scoring an eight-under-par 62. Poulter is playing at Firestone for the 14th time, with a tie for 13th on his debut still his best result – and said he used his previous struggles as inspiration.

“Yeah, it fires me up,” Poulter said after saving par from a bunker on his last hole for a bogey-free round. “It’s frustrating to look at. I actually thought I had a better finish than that, so it really annoyed me. ... I wrote them all down, they were that bad.”

Ian Poulter checks his scorecard at the 17th, on his way to a record first-round score of 62. Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

His 62 matched the lowest first-round score at Firestone, first set by Adam Scott in 2011, and it was one off the course record for any round. The tournament is set to move from Akron to Memphis next year.

Rickie Fowler and Stanley each made 63, while Jon Rahm, Kim Si-woo and Patrick Cantlay were another shot behind. Seven players were in the group at 65, which included Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jason Day.

“You can’t find this golf course any easier than we had it today,” McIlroy said. “It’s soft. It’s probably the softest I’ve ever seen it. ... So you needed to take advantage of the conditions today. It looked like most of the guys have done that, which is good.”

Not all of the main contenders profited from the conditions – Jordan Spieth salvaged a 71 with two late birdies, while world No 1 Dustin Johnson scored 69. Open winner Francesco Molinari made 70 in his first tournament since Carnoustie.

Earlier Thursday, ESPN reported Woods will play a winner-take-all, one-on-one showdown with Phil Mickelson on Thanksgiving weekend at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.