NORTON, Mass. – Mike Baker of Stratton has qualified to play in two events against the biggest names in golf.

Unfortunately for Baker, he has started both of them in similar fashion.

After playing the first nine holes in even par in Friday’s opening round of the Deutsche Bank Classic at the Tournament Players Club of Boston, he struggled on the back nine and finished at 8-over-par 79.

Tiger Woods of Windermere, Fla., and Ryan Palmer of Amarillo, Texas, are tied atop the leaderboard at 6-under-par 65. A stroke back are Mark O’Meara of Windermere, Fla., Cameron Beckman of San Antonio, Texas, and Jonathon Byrd of Sea Island, Ga.

Second-round play continues today, and Baker will tee off at 8:30 a.m. He will attempt to shoot low enough to make the cut for the final two rounds Sunday and Monday.

Baker, a teaching pro at Sugarloaf Golf Club in Carrabassett Valley, bogeyed the first hole at the Tournament Players Club of Boston in Friday’s opening round of the Deutsche Bank Classic.

He immediately got that stroke back by sinking a 5-foot putt for birdie on the second hole and parred the next seven holes to make the turn in 36.

He also played the first nine holes well in last month’s opening round of the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., shooting a 1-over-par 37. His round started going sour on the 10th hole, though, and he finished at 8-over-par 80.

Baker’s troubles began on the 10th hole again Friday when he pulled his approach shot from the right rough into the left lateral hazard and made double bogey.

He bogeyed the next two holes as well. Hitting tee shots to the right and just missing putts, including a couple of short ones, made it difficult to make up for the bad holes, even if he didn’t have any more.

But he did.

After getting up and down for par from behind the 13th green – and drawing a cheer from the small crowd for doing so – he was quickly in trouble again.

Baker’s drive on the 495-yard, par-4 14th hole (the most difficult scoring hole on the course last year) got caught up in the left rough beside the bunkers on the corner of the dogleg left hole.

His second shot stayed well right and bounded into another lateral hazard. He couldn’t make much of a swing at it, and it dropped in the right bunker just short of the green. Baker blasted out to 12 feet short of the pin, but his first putt failed to break the way he played it and he made another double bogey.

Baker voiced his frustration after the first putt, a rare display for someone who has typically kept his emotions to himself during a round.

His birdie attempt from 18 feet on the next hole slipped by on the right and he had to make a 4-foot comebacker to save par.

He wasn’t as lucky on the 16th hole, a 211-yard, par 3, as he hit his tee shot over the green again. He chipped it well, though, and had a 3-foot putt left for par.

The ball stayed left of the cup – again – and he had to take another bogey.

A 12-foot birdie putt on the next hole broke right to left as he read it, but the ball caught the lower edge of the cup and spun out. He tapped it in for par.

His drive on the 542-yard, par-5 18th hole, last year’s easiest, caught a bunker on the right corner. He had to lay up at about 110 yards, and his third shot spun back down a ridge on the green, leaving him another 18-footer. He three-putted for bogey.

Baker was visibly upset by the way he finished and declined to talk afterward.

“No. Not tonight,” he said.