TIGER BARES HIS TEETH
Woods opens with magnificent seven then finds it rough
IT WAS just like old times. Then it was like new times. And these are most certainly not his best times. But all that could be about to change for Tiger Woods. Coming off the back of the seventh green, anything was possible, not least the Open course record at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Several hours later, politely asking the best route away from the 18th, he was just another name in the chasing pack.
Even so, he would have bought three under par and space on the leaderboard when the morning began. It wasn’t his worst day’s work, far from it; it just wasn’t as startlingly brutal as a Tiger attack used to be.
Of course, Woods will never be just any old presence on the shoulder of the first- day leader. Not with his history. There are plenty of great golfers and major champions in contention here already: Ernie Els, Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell. Yet it is Woods who continues to capture the imagination; Woods who conjures fantasies of what might be to come. Could this be the one; could this be the moment of the comeback; could this be the long-awaited 15th major?
There were signs that it might be in yesterday’s performance. Not so much a glimpse, more a long lingering look between holes one and seven, when Woods birdied four times.
He was immense in that spell, immaculate, unstoppable. The conditions were benign but few others were tearing up the course like Tiger. If he had a birdie putt within 15 feet, it dropped. He found the heart of the fairway, position A on the green. The one time he erred, sending his ball into a hollow on the left by the third green, his recovery was perfect, coming to rest an inch from the hole. It was an awesome display, a reminder of the perfection of his greatest years.
This is what is so often forgotten about Woods. A mediocre sportsman may find it easy to recover his form: he has a shorter distance to travel. Woods, by contrast, is looking to reclaim a talent from the heavens. He needs to become the guy who was on target to revise the record books. And briefly, yesterday, he was.
So, although the final 11 holes were frustrating, they were far from a failure. On the hardest part of the links — the back nine was certainly causing more problems, even in its gentle state — he gave back only one shot, his sole bogey of the afternoon, on the 15th. The rest of the time Woods was accurate, efficient, his birdie putts on line but a roll or two short.
A little bolder or braver and he could easily have been leading the tournament overnight. The odd gamble from the tee, and who knows what Tiger has in the tank? He was cautious yesterday. Sensibly so. He took irons from the tee when his playing partners pulled out drivers, he laid up, even hitting fat when doing so on one occasion, emitting an ironic peal of laughter.
Playing the spots, Woods calls it. Target golf. He has a safe area he needs to hit and, as long as he lands the ball there, he will be all right.
Having talked earlier in the week about unplayable rough in this corner of Lancashire, Woods appeared to have followed the advice of Open legend Tom Watson. ‘It’s no big deal,’ Watson said on the eve of the tournament. ‘ Just hit it straight.’
And Woods made sure he did, right up until the 15th when one wayward drive came at a high cost. Woods found deep rough on the left and in trying to blast it out succeeded only in advancing his ball approximately 50 yards to more long grass pitted with mocking yellow dandelions.
Woods, face like thunder, trudged on. He did not hand his club back to his caddie Joe LaCava but walked with it in his hand, 24-handicapper style. Nothing says lousy shot like the sorry march to repeat it, when even replacing the club in the bag is considered a waste of time.
Few weekend hackers can ever hope to play the shot Woods then did, however, placing him on the green with the chance of saving par. He did not make the putt, but merely to have the opportunity was an achievement from there.
‘I had the face open and I was trying to hit it 80 in the air,’ said Woods. ‘There was a bunker in front of me on the other side of the hill and it was 60 to carry that.
‘I figured 80 would be good and leave me with a chance to get to the green. Unfortunately it didn’t grab just the hosel (the part of a golf club where the head connects to the shaft), it grabbed the shaft and just turned it down. It snagged and went left. People don’t realise how deep some places are.’
In the circumstances, Woods appeared to be saying he was happy. It was a familiar refrain. ‘I’m playing the spots,’ he added. ‘I was just playing to my little sections and I had my game plan to those sections. I felt like I had pretty good control. I was shaping the ball both ways. I had areas I wanted to put the ball and I did that all day. I played well. I really hit it well.
‘I was very close to making a few more putts. Every ball was starting right on my line. I’ve just got to hit the putts a little harder because I lacked a bit of pace on the greens coming home. They were dying off at the front of the lip but I am still very pleased with what I did.’
As Woods approached a lengthy birdie putt on the 14th green, LaCava told a cameraman: ‘Make sure you get this, I’ve got a good feeling.’
He didn’t get it. Perhaps today he will. Perhaps it will all be like old times from here. The hope for Woods is that those seven holes were a portent; a vision of his future, taken straight from his past.