Tiger at even par at Wells Fargo

CHARLOTTE – Playing rugged, redesigned and muscled-up Quail Hollow Club for the first time since 2012, Tiger Woods needed just two days to recognize that the course has become a grind, a much tougher test for the combatants in the Wells Fargo Championship than in years past.

A stout opening six holes featuring a mix of length, thin fairways and puzzling greens can get a player going sideways in hurry. The closing three holes, dubbed the Green Mile, is a 1,170-yard stretch of nasty that can send a player packing in a hurry after missing the 36hole cut.

In other words, it’s not the easiest place to return to the PGA Tour after a three-week break following his disappointing tie for 32nd in the Masters.

Especially when his putter was not cooperating.

But Woods clawed his way around the difficult track in Thursday’s sunsplashed first round to stay in touch with the leaders. Digging deep instead of getting discouraged, remaining calm instead of flashing anger, Woods called upon all his talents to shoot an uneven, even-par 71.

While his new irons, a TaylorMade prototype set of muscle-backed blade irons, worked out OK and his driver was solid, Woods’ old Scotty Cameron putter, the one he’s used in 13 of his 14 major championship triumphs, was a tad on the cold side. He needed 31 putts, with most of his bad ones missing on the right side, especially when he took three putts on the fourth hole and three putts on the 16th hole.

“I hit the ball fine. I just struggled with my speed on the greens all day,” said Woods, who joked that he might break out a long putter for Friday’s second round. “The greens are springy and firm but slow. That’s a tough combination. “If I just make a few putts, I shoot 2 under, 3 under, but I just didn’t make anything. I have to make the adjustment.”

Woods weathered the first six holes despite missing good birdie chances on four of the holes and went to the seventh tee with just one blemish on his scorecard — a bogey on the par-3 fourth where he came up short with his tee shot and missed a 7-footer for par.

Then he started making his hay on the easier holes on the course, starting at the seventh where he canned a 9footer for birdie. He found another red number on the par-4 eighth where he knocked in a 28-footer for birdie.

Momentum wasn’t sustained, however, as he parred the ninth and then played his sloppiest hole on the par-5 10th, one of the easier holes on the course. He drove his tee shot into a bunker, laid up but then missed the green with a short iron from 148 yards. From there he didn’t get up-and-down for par, missing from 7 feet.

He got away with poor putts on the next three holes but managed pars. He got another par on the drivable par-4 14th, but there was no reason to celebrate as he missed his birdie chance from 4 feet.