July 2nd 2015, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, U.S.A.: Tiger Woods stopped short of talking validation after shooting 66 during the first round of The Greenbrier Classic on Thursday.

But it was clear the round of 4 under, which left him four strokes off the pace, meant something to the former world No. 1 who just two weeks ago shot a first-round 80 at the U.S. Open and ended up missing the cut by 11 strokes.

The round of 66 matched Woods' lowest in relation to par this season and it was also his lowest numerical tally since he shot the same score in the third round of last year's World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship. The last time Woods broke 70 was in the third round of the Masters -- 18 rounds (two of which were in the 80s) ago.

"Even though my scores don't indicate it, my swings don't indicate it ... my feels were telling me that I wasn't that far off," Woods said firmly. "I was proving it to myself time and time again away from a tournament site and on the range, but my feel in my hands and my body weren't far off.

Tiger Woods hits an approach shot during Round 1

"It was just a matter of just getting into a little bit of the rhythm and the flow of it, and I found that."

So was there a sense of relief that Woods finally put the kind of score up that showed progress? His response was an emphatic "no."

"Forget you guys and everybody else out there," Woods said, eliciting laughter from the 30 or so members of the media hanging on his every word. "It's about winning golf tournaments and putting myself up there consistently, and that's why I've made the changes, to put myself up there consistently."

Woods, who hit 10 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation on Thursday, also needed just 25 putts. He one-putted his last three holes for birdie after making double bogey at No. 6.

"I was just telling Joey going down 7, we were playing too well to be at 1-under par. Just trying to get back to 3, and we just happened to pull off a hat trick coming home," Woods said.

Woods was just two strokes off the pace when he finished, although within about 30 minutes that deficit increased to four as Scott Langley posted a 62. Still, Woods, who made a total of seven birdies on Thursday, appeared energized by his position.

"I hit the ball better than what my score indicates," Woods said. "I gave myself a lot of looks and just didn't make enough."

The only other time Woods played in The Greenbrier Classic was in 2012 and he shot 71-69 to miss the cut. The Old White TPC has a history of yielding low scores, though -- Stuart Appleby shot 59 in the final round of the 2010 event -- and a steady rain Thursday afternoon was sure to render it even more generous.

"Everyone is going to shoot under par here it seems like," Woods said. "It's so soft. The par 5s are somewhat reachable with it being soft like this, but overall if you drive the ball well here, you're going to probably have at least seven shots with 9-iron or below into the greens, and you're going to have to capitalize on that, and so far I'm one of those guys who did."