TIGER BITES BACK WITH IMPRESSIVE 66 IN GREENBRIER
Woods impresses at Greenbrier with swashbuckling 66
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS (United States): Tiger Woods shook off a late double-bogey with birdies in his last three holes to post a four-under 66 in the first round of the Greenbrier Classic.
The 14-time Major champion posted his best first-round score of this year by seven strokes.
It was also his first round in the 60s since the US Masters, where rounds of 69 and 68 in the second and third helped him finish tied for 17th.
By the time Woods birdied the ninth hole of the Old White TPC course, both England’s Brian Davis and Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa were in the clubhouse on six-under 64. But it was an encouraging start in what has been the worst season of Woods’ career.
Last month he missed the cut at the US Open at Chambers Bay with rounds of 80 and 76 – his worst-ever 36-hole performance.
Another missed cut this week – in his only tuneup for the British Open at St Andrews in a fortnight – would mark the first time in 21 years that Woods missed the cut in back-to-back starts.
Woods teed off on 10 and got to three-under with birdies at 12, 15 and 16 before giving a stroke back at the par-five 17th.
After a birdie at the par-four second, Woods dropped two shots at the par-four sixth, where he was in the rough off the tee and in a greenside bunker with his approach shot.
“Wasn’t good, making a double there,” Woods said, adding that he told caddie Joey LaCava “We’re just playing too well to be at one-under.”
He was hoping to get back to three-under for the round “and we happened to pull off a hat-trick coming home,” he said.
The former world number one finished strongly, however, landing his approach within four feet for birdie at the seventh, draining an 18-footer at the eighth and rolling in a 19-foot birdie effort at the ninth. It was the first time he’d birdied three on the trot since the Players Championship in May.
He hit 10 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation, needing just 25 putts.
“I hit the ball well all day, until a couple of loose tee shots at the end,” he said.
While Woods understandably grabbed the limelight, American Scott Langley compiled eight-under 62 for a one-stroke lead over compatriot Jonathan Byrd and New Zealand’s Danny Lee.
On a day when 95 players broke par, defending champion Angel Cabrera struggled to a oneover 71. — AFP