Champion Tiger Woods produced his most consistent ball striking since he remodeled his swing for a two-under 69 to finish within touching distance of the Australian Masters first round leaders yesterday.
Woods made three birdies and a bogey in his first round in near perfect conditions at Victoria Golf Club, but was left to rue some wayward putting as he finished four shots adrift of Australian trio Alistair Presnell, Adam Bland and Daniel Gaunt.
“That was probably the highest score I could have shot today,” the world No. 2 told reporters. “I really played well and hit a lot of good shots.”
Photo: EPA
“I’m probably hitting the ball better for stretches of six or seven holes but nothing like this for the entire day. I really hit it good today,” Woods said.
Woods has not won a title since claiming the gold jacket at nearby Kingston Heath on Melbourne’s sandbelt a year ago, shortly before stories about his personal life quickly developed into a storm that wrecked his marriage, tarnished his clean-cut image and caused him to take a break from golf.
He also remodeled his swing under the tutelage of swing coach Sean Foley earlier this year and said he felt yesterday’s round was the best he had hit the ball on the first day of a tournament since he made the adjustments.
“I hit it pretty good in China last week, but not like this,” he said. “I gave myself a bunch of looks ... for birdie. Every putt was just a little bit shy.”
“I felt I was hitting them on all my lines but I wasn’t hitting them hard enough and they were dying in front of the lip,” Woods said. “If I just could have holed a few more putts, it could been a really good round. It could have been easily four, five, six under ... but I’m right there.”
Presnell mixed five birdies with an eagle and a bogey six on his final hole, while Bland strung together five birdies in his final six holes to top the leaderboard after teeing off early.
Gaunt joined them with the best round in the afternoon with seven birdies and a solitary bogey at the par-four 13th.
Colombia’s Camilo Villegas was the next best of the vaunted ‘big five’ with an even par 71 after a birdie on 18, while Australia’s 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy was one over.
Two-time winner Robert Allenby was a further stroke back on two over after he mixed five birdies with seven bogeys while Spain’s Sergio Garcia slumped to four over before successive birdies on his closing two holes rescued his round and he also finished on two over.
SINGAPORE OPEN
Reuters, SINGAPORE
England’s Chris Wood scorched round a yielding Tanjong course with an eight-under-par 63 to grab a share of the first-round lead at the storm-hit Singapore Open yesterday.
Wood, who finished fifth as an amateur at the 2008 British Open and tied for third a year later, shared top spot with playing partner Kim Bi-o of South Korea on a leaderboard dominated by those playing the easier Tanjong track.
Spain’s Ignacio Garrido was also on eight-under-par after 11 holes before fading light brought the day’s play to an end.
Taiwan’s Chan Yih-shin was in a group of eight players five shots behind the leaders.
Torrential rain and lightning caused a four-hour delay in the morning, leaving the late starters at the US$6 million co-sanctioned event with no chance of completing 18 holes.
A total of 108 players will have to complete their first round early today.
Defending champion Ian Poulter and Race to Dubai protagonists Graeme McDowell and Martin Kaymer were among those forced to wait until the late afternoon before teeing off.
Poulter was level par after six holes, Kaymer was two under also through six and McDowell five under after eight.
Wood carded a bogey-free round of 63 with six birdies and an eagle and the lanky 22-year-old said the rain suspension did not disrupt his game too much.
“To be honest, I had only just started when we got called in,” Wood said. “I was on the third green so I wasn’t really into a rhythm or anything like that,” he said. “Although I did birdie the first three holes, which I was very pleased with.”
Two separate par-71 courses are being used for the first time with the entire 204-man field playing a round on each and those making the halfway cut completing the final 36 holes on the Serapong course.
Northern Ireland’s McDowell, South Korean Kang Kyung-nam and England’s Nick Dougherty were the only players in the top 23 to start the day on the more demanding Serapong layout.
The trio were three shots off the pace, with South Korean Kang in the clubhouse.
Joint-leader Kim, who won the Korean and Japanese Amateur Championships in 2008, carded eight birdies.
“Eight birdies is a lot but I still missed about four birdies from inside 10 feet or I could have been 12-under for today,” the 20-year-old said.
Masters champion Phil Mickelson just squeezed in the full 18 holes on the Tanjong course and finished with a four-under-par 67.
“We are certainly glad we got today’s round in and we are hopefully going to be able to make up the ground to get done on Sunday,” he said.
“The frustration is that this round could have been in the low 60s very easily if just a couple of putts had gone in, but the positive is that today I actually read the putts better than I ever have and I actually putted them better than I ever have,” Mickelson said.
Sponsors Barclays have ramped up prize money by US$1 million for the tournament, co-sanctioned by the European and Asian tours, making it the joint richest event on the European Tour outside the majors and the World Golf Championships.
With US$1 million on offer for first place, the tournament could go a long way to determining the order of merit titles on both the Asian and European Tours.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
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