Leaderboard crowded at Doral
Tiger Woods in fiveway tie for lead in star-studded field.
DORAL, FLA. — The big names gravitated to the top of the Cadillac Championship leaderboard Thursday. And none was bigger than Tiger Woods.
Finding his putting stroke and the rest of his game after a pedestrian four rounds at the Honda Classic last week, Woods birdied two of his last three holes to move into a five-way tie for the first-round lead at Trump Doral Resort with a sixunder 66.
The leaderboard had the star power of a major, with four more players within one shot of the lead. Tied with Woods at the top are Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell and Hobe Sound resident Freddie Jacobson. One shot back at 67 are Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker and Peter Hanson.
Sunny skies and gentle breezes blessed the opening day of the event — a sharp contrast to last Sunday at the Honda Classic, when cold, blustery weather sent scores soaring. The five-man logjam at the top was the largest on tour in two years.
Woods, who failed to break par last week, needed only 23 putts Thursday — fewest by anyone in the field — and credited some tips from Stricker for his success.
“Whatever he says, I’m going to do,” Woods said. “He’s one of the best putters that’s ever lived.
“Basically he got me into the same posture I was at Torrey, and I started rolling it just like I did then,” Woods continued, referring to his January win at Torrey Pines in Southern California. “Just gave me a couple little things to think about.”
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy, paired with Woods and former No. 1 Luke Donald, had to rally with two birdies in his last three holes to get to oneover 73. McIlroy was one of only 16 players over par.
Woods has either held or shared the first-round lead twice in this event and gone on to win, in 2002 and ‘06. Overall, he’s won six times at Doral, most recently in 2007.
But he has plenty of company at the top, including his fellow Medalist Club member Jacobson, who overcame a head cold, poor iron play and fatigue with a round that featured two eagles and only one bogey.
“I missed a lot of greens, but I made up-and-down on all of them,” said Jacobson, who is playing for the sixth straight week. “My iron play wasn’t good at all, so I have some things I have to sort out. One round is fine; four is a different ball game.”
Watson, the defending Masters champion, picked up where he left off a year ago, when he finished second in this event after his second-round 62 fell one stroke shy of the course record.
Garcia, who tied for 13th in his only previous PGA Tour event this season at the Northern Trust Open three weeks ago, said that while the conditions were near perfect, the course was not easy.
“It’s been easier than this, where the greens were softer and not as fast,” he said. “Even though the greens were firm, if you drove the ball well, you could score.”