A cart above the rest
Woods shakes off illness but makes slow progress
Veteran golfer John Daly on a golf cart during the first round of the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York. Daly, who has an arthritic right knee, was granted permission to ride under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He remains a crowd favourite judging by the reception he received from the galleries. Inset: Australia’s Jason Day and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy swapping hats.
It wasn’t as clean as I’d like to have it for sure. Didn’t get off to a very good start.
Tiger Woods
TIGER Woods cleared up the reason for his mysterious absence from Bethpage Black on the eve of the PGA Championship, revealing after the first round that he had not been feeling well.
Woods played only nine holes in preparation this week and he struggled on the greens in a two-over 72 that left him nine strokes behind leader Brooks Koepka.
“I wasn’t feeling that good yesterday, so I decided to stay home and rest,” the 15-time Major champion told reporters. “I got a little sick.”
“It wasn’t as clean as I’d like to have it for sure,” Woods said. “Didn’t get off to a very good start.”
There did not seem much wrong with Woods’ physical condition and he did not play badly on the brutally long Bethpage course, where lush rough adds an extra element of difficulty.
A couple of misread putts, a couple of poor putting strokes, a couple of visits to the rough and a bad break added up to a 72.
He won the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines despite double-bogeying the very first hole, and will have to dig himself out of a similar predicament if he wants to lift the Wanamaker Trophy tomorrow.
Masters champion Woods had gone 118 consecutive holes in stroke play without a double-bogey or worse until he dropped two shots at the par-four 10th, his first, on a crisp, sunny Long Island morning.
Although the six-foot putt he missed was certainly no cause for panic, unlike at Torrey Pines 11 years ago it set the tone for the day.
He missed four more shortish putts – including a four-footer at the fifth hole that was a momentum killer coming straight after an eagle at the par-five fourth.
“I felt like I was getting back into the round. I fought my way back to under par for the day,” said the 43-year-old.
“Unfortunately, I just didn’t keep it together at the end. I had a couple of three-putts there and hit a bad chip at (the eighth) hole and left myself in a bad spot.”
A victory would tie Woods for the record of 82 US PGA Tour titles held by Sam Snead and move him within two of matching the all-time Major record of 18 won by Jack Nicklaus.
Woods, who has topped the rankings for a record 683 weeks, also could become world number one for the first time since March 2013 with a victory on the same course where he captured the 2002 US Open.
Woods could become the first golfer since Nicklaus in 1975 to win the Masters and PGA Championship in the same year. — Agencies