Tiger Woods looks like Tiger Woods with a 65

If Tiger Woods is finally going to win another golf tournament, it might as well be his own.

Showing the form that the world came to expect from Woods before his sensational downfall a year ago, Woods fired a seven-under-par 65 to take a one-shot lead Thursday in the opening round of the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks.

The 18-player event at the Sherwood Country Club course benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, and its namesake is a four-time winner. But Woods missed the event in 2008 due to knee surgery and again last year due to the Thanksgiving night car accident that ignited his sex scandal.

Woods, 34, has struggled since returning to tournament golf in April and he’s adapting to a new swing. But on Thursday, with golf conditions ideal on a warm day, Woods was in the aggressive frame of mind that has enabled him to capture 71 PGA Tour events, including 14 major championships.

“It’s nice to play well,” Woods said. “I played solid all day” despite not sinking many long putts, he added.

It was the first time Woods was atop the leaderboard since Aug. 26, when he was the co-leader after shooting 65 in the first round at The Barclays tournament in New Jersey.

U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, both of Northern Ireland and paired together Thursday, finished one shot behind Woods after shooting 66s.

“No disappointment” in not sharing the lead, said McDowell, who lost last year’s tournament by one shot to Jim Furyk. “Obviously [it’s] just a great way to begin the week and [I] hope to build on it as the weekend goes on.”

Dustin Johnson and Stewart Cink followed at three-under 69, with Luke Donald and Camilo Villegas (70) the only other players under par. Furyk shot an even-par 72.

Woods made eight birdies — including on all five of Sherwood’s par-five holes — while carding only one bogey on the par-four 18th hole after an errant tee shot.

“You have to take care of the par fives,” he said. “It’s the only way to shoot low here.”

But perhaps Woods’ most notable moment came at the par-three 12th hole when his approach shot went wide of the green into the rough.

Woods responded by nearly holing out his chip shot — a recovery that prompted him to gently fall on his back in the deep grass as the ball lipped out of the cup — to make par. Woods acknowledged that, earlier this year, he might well have made bogey in that situation and seen his subsequent play suffer.

“That was a sweet little shot,” he said. “Most of this year if I did get something going, I’d make some kind of mistake and leave myself in a bad spot and make bogey. That was a bad spot.”

McDowell said more low scores are likely as the four-day tournament continues.

“The greens are soft, very receptive” to incoming shots, he said. “The whole golf course is very well set up for scoring.”

james.peltz@latimes.com