UPDATE 1-Golf-Cink shares Quail Hollow lead, Woods cards 71

* Cink finishes birdie-birdie-birdie to tie lead

* Woods and Mickelson open with 71s at Quail Hollow

(Updates at end of round)

May 3 (Reuters) - While Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson made

uneven starts, Stewart Cink birdied his last three holes to

surge into a three-way tie for the lead in Thursday's opening

round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North

Carolina.

American Cink, seeking his first PGA Tour victory since his

playoff win at the 2009 British Open, fired a seven-under-par 65

to end a humid day at Quail Hollow Club level with compatriots

Ryan Moore and Webb Simpson.

Australian John Senden, Britain's Brian Davis and American

Rickie Fowler, D.A. Points and Patrick Reed had matching 66s as

golfing heavyweights Woods and Mickelson had to settle for 71s.

U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy bogeyed his final hole for a

70, British world number three Lee Westwood carded a 71 and 2009

U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover launched his title defence with a

72.

Cink, who has mainly struggled for form since pulling off

his first major victory at Turnberry in Scotland three years

ago, was delighted to remain bogey-free despite not playing at

his very best.

"It was a good round," the 38-year-old told reporters after

sinking a 20-footer on his final hole, the par-four ninth. "It

wasn't a great round, far from perfect, but I had a few putts go

in the hole and managed my misses pretty well."

Woods, champion here in 2007, put himself under early

pressure after bogeying two of his first six holes on his return

to the PGA Tour for the first time since last month's Masters.

"I made too many mistakes on the front nine," the 14-times

major champion said after mixing four birdies with three bogeys.

"I didn't take care of the par-fives and I had an easy up and in

at eight, which I messed up there."

Four-times major champion Mickelson was briefly derailed by

a triple-bogey at the par-four fourth where he hit his tee shot

out of bounds.

"I played pretty well today and hit a lot of greens but made

one mistake with the triple there," left-hander Mickelson said

after a five-birdie display. "That was a really poor tee shot.

"Fortunately I came back to shoot one under. I'll try and

come out tomorrow and shoot something in the mid-60s and get

into the weekend ... if I can get a hot round, I'll get right in

it."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by

Frank Pingue)

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