The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Tiger Woods makes an encouraging start to the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida with an opening 68 as he continues his comeback.
GOLF: Woods just happy to be playing again as Swede has seven birdies in eight holes to lead
Tiger Woods attempted to keep a lid on soaring expectations after making an impressive start to the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Woods is seeking a record ninth victory at Bay Hill in just his fifth PGA Tour event since undergoing spinal fusion surgery in April 2017, his fourth back operation in the space of three years.
The 42-year-old finished second to England’s Paul Casey in the Valspar Championship on Sunday and carried on where he left off in Orlando with an opening 68 to lie four shots behind clubhouse leader Henrik Stenson.
That performance saw some bookmakers install the 14-time Major winner as a joint-favourite for the upcoming Masters alongside world No 1 Dustin Johnson, but Woods was keen to avoid getting carried away with the hype.
“You guys are asking different questions than you did when I first came back and that wasn’t that long ago, that’s two months ago,” Woods said after his round in quotes reported by ESPN.
“The narrative has completely flipped and I just wanted to remind you guys that it wasn’t that long ago that you were asking a different set of questions and that you need to enjoy it.
“I enjoy just playing again after what I’ve been through. Playing feels good.”
After starting from the 10th, Woods birdied the 12th, 13th and 16th to reach theturnin33, butlookedtohaveundone most of his good work with a wild tee shot on the third hole which finished up entangled in a mesh fence and was deemed out of bounds.
The former world No 1 appeared unhappy with the ruling as he took the headcover off his fairway wood and threw it behind him before making the lonely walk back to the tee, from where his third shot also sailed right.
A superb fourth shot cut around a tree found the edge of the green, but two putts from long range added up to a double-bogey six.
Woods quickly bounced back with birdies on the fourth and sixth, both par fives, and followed a poor tee shot on the par-three seventh by holing from 70 feet for another unlikely gain.
“It was coming over that hill a little too quick,” Woods admitted on Sky Sports.
“I was just trying to lag it down there, just make my par and get outta here and it had a crash at the hole, which I’m not complaining about, and it went in.”
Stenson, who missed the cut last week after playing alongside Woods, fired nine birdies and a solitary bogey in his 64, with seven of the birdies coming in an eight-hole stretch from the ninth.
“I hit some beautiful shots out there today and I was rolling it really good too,” Stenson told Sky Sports.
“Last week I was struggling with the putting but put a lot of effort in before this week and managed to shape things up.
“It’s still a work in progress but I’d like to build on the confidence a little bit over the coming weeks.”
Rory Mcilroy looked set to challenge for the lead when he played his first 10 holes in five under, but a string of pars was followed by a drive out of bounds on the 18th.
The resulting double bogey left Mcilroy alongside Tommy Fleetwood, Graeme Mcdowell, Ernie Els and Justin Rose on three under, Rose having made a remarkable fightback.
The Engishman was four over par after his first six holes, but birdied seven of the next 10 to card a 69.
Jimmy Walker had set the early clubhouse target after holing his second shot to the 18th for a closing eagle in a round of 67.
Patrick Reed, who bogeyed the 72nd hole in the Valspar Championship to
miss out on a play-off with Casey, was alongside Woods, Byeong Hun An, Brian Harman and Billy Horschel on four under.
American pair Rickie Fowler and Bryson Dechambeau were safely home with 67s but two more Americans, Talor Gooch and Aaron Wise, were threatening Stenson at the top of the board.
Wise birdied the 16th to reach seven under and Gooch, who started at the 10th, was six under after 15 holes.
Former Open champion Padraig Harrington opened with a 71, one better than Scotland’s Martin Laird, who finished his round bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie.
Another Scot, Russell Knox, was left needing a better day today after a 74.
Knox reached the turn at one under par but a double bogey at the 11th and bogeys at 14 and 17 meant his birdie at the last was only good for two over. Luke Donald had a day to forget. The Englishman ran up an eight at his sixth hole on his way to a 79 to finish the first day ahead of only one player, Ted Potter, who carded an 80.