Tiger Woods on Thursday “fought hard” in an inconsistent performance to trail first-round leaders Tony Finau and Patrick Cantlay by six strokes at the Genesis Open in Los Angeles.
Woods, in his second start of the PGA Tour season after a year-long absence during which he had a spinal fusion, shot a one-over 72 in a roller-coaster round at Riviera in the affluent neighborhood of Pacific Palisades.
The 14-time major champion, playing in a high-profile group with four-time major winner Rory McIlroy (71) and reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year Justin Thomas (69), was forced to lean heavily on his short game given his erratic long game.
Defending champion and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson battled to a 74 after an early triple-bogey.
“Man, I fought hard, made a few mistakes, simple, silly mistakes, bad shots here and there... but one-over’s not bad,” Woods told the Golf Channel.
Woods struggled at times with a new driver that has a stiffer shaft than his previous version.
However, he took comfort from the fact that most of his wayward drives headed in the same direction, to the right.
“The shaft is one I can go ahead and let it go,” he said, explaining that he held back on a couple of drives.
Woods made an ideal start with a birdie at his opening hole, the short par-four 10th, but quickly double-bogeyed the next after his drive clattered into a gum tree and disappeared, evidently stuck up in the branches.
Declaring a lost ball, he had to play again from the tee.
He finished the day having hit eight of 14 fairways and seven of 18 greens in regulation.
Leaders Finau and Cantlay posted five-under 66s on a day when a few players did not finish the round due to darkness.
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