Tiger the host with the most by winning AT&T

Mahan had to settle for his third straight top 10, although he put on quite a show, even if hardly anyone noticed.

Most of the 40,000 fans at Congressional scrambled for a sight of the present and the future — Woods and Kim — until Mahan started dropping in putts from everyone on the back nine.

“I think everybody was watching AK and Tiger and expecting kind of a battle there, and I knew I just had to go low today,” Mahan said. “I figured great players up on the leaderboard like that, I figured they’d make it to at least 13 or 14 under.”

Playing with Woods for the first time — in the final pairing at Woods’ own tournament, no less — Kim walked with a swagger and a smile to the first tee, dressed in white pants and a royal blue shirt. He then smoked his driver some 25 yards past Woods, nearly holed out his wedge and tapped in for birdie for a quick advantage.

A four-hole stretch changed everything.

Kim three-putted the fifth for bogey, and Woods took the lead with an 8-iron over the water to 15 feet for birdie. Their day was summed up at the par-3 seventh, when both hit tee shots 6 feet away.

Kim missed, Woods made.

Kim then three-putted from 20 feet on the eighth, missing a 3-foot par putt.

The threat came from Mahan, an explosive player like Kim, minus the hip-hop.

He teed off more than an hour before Woods, then poured it on along the back nine with six birdies, including a 15-foot putt on the final hole to tie the course record.

Mahan was on his way to the range when they heard a roar a half-mile away and his caddie checked his phone to see that Woods had made birdie. Mahan finished hitting balls and was headed to the putting green when a young girl approached him for an autograph.

He might not have noticed what was written on the back of her T-shirt: “Tiger’s Back.”

Also on NBCSports.com   PFT Daily: There are reasons for Chargers to be optimistic College basketball: Is your team in the tourney? PBT: Jordan becoming too visible at Bobcats games FirstPerson: Share your photos from spring training Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

MORE FROM GOLF

Golf Section Front

WGC event is wide-open for ‘world-class field’ On the Fringe: World championships of America CA notebook: Villegas to have following at Doral Out of Bounds: Tiger mistress pageant winner is ... Tourneys, and the world, await word on Tiger Out of Bounds: Yes, Tiger, Elin spotted kissing McIlroy picks up a tip from Golden Bear   Ask the Expert: Players due for a breakout Special feature: Timeline of Tiger’s sex scandal Special feature: Timeline of Woods’ marriage Golf Section Front   Add Golf headlines to your news reader: