With a glorious 66
TIGER WOODS left his playing partner Shaun Norris kicking his heels on the first tee in his long absence – but it was worth the wait.
Woods finally arrived three minutes before his name was announced to “Go Tiger” chants from the cheering stands as he belatedly shook hands with the South African. And in front of an appropriate “The One” sign, he launched a first iron straight down the middle to start turning back the Woods clock to the good old days of 14 Major wins and countless victories on tour. Clad in grey, Woods simply shone, lighting up the galleries in his back-to-the-future performance, finishing with a 66 to go five under.
By rights he should not have been there. Woods suffered 466 days away from the sport he loves. He was in the wilderness when he went into personal and professional meltdown. Four back surgeries including a spinal fusion saw Woods placed at 1,005 in the world rankings just
12 months ago.
But his surgeon and time have been great healers and here was Woods starring again in his first Open for three years as he made a steady par, par, par start before the explosive fireworks.
The birdies came thick and fast. His first at four followed by two more to make the turn at three under after starting his sensational day level par. Bang. Bang. Two successive birdies on 10 and 11 even saw the media room focus on the big screens reporting another huge piece of never-to-be-forgotten Woods history.
The American looked serenely relaxed. Obviously, he had been getting a good night’s sleep after ordering a plank to be placed underneath his hotel bed mattress to ease his back worries. Woods on wood has certainly done the trick with another birdie on the 14th promoting him to joint leader. No one expected that. His name in lights after the big, long switch-off.
The oohs around Carnoustie were audible as terrific Tiger suffered his first bogey of the day at the par-three
16th and prayers were offered that he would not collapse after such memorable golf.
Woods negotiated the 17th successfully but then the world held its breath on the final hole when his tee shot diced with the dreaded water.
Home, as the hole is called, nearly became a homewrecker with a fringe of thick gorse keeping his ball out of the drink to see Woods recover with a well-deserved par. With that, his cap was off and the huge smile appeared with Woods admitting that he had a ‘loada’ fun out there. He said: “That was good. I played well today, I really did. I hit a lot of good shots. I really didn’t feel like I really made a bad swing until 18.
“I really felt like I had control of the golf ball today. And on top of that, I made some longer putts which was nice. “It’s been a few years since I felt like this. I played pretty similar to this at the Players’ Championship. “Obviously the fifth Major but not like this in one of these big four events.
“There were a bunch of guys putting up great scores and the golf course was gettable. I didn’t want to be too far back if the guys got to 10 under. I had to stay within reach. And five under is definitely within reach.”