Woods gets hot after bad start, shoots 68 at Quicken Loans
GAINESVILLE, Va. — Tiger Woods took a conservative 3-wood off the first hole at the Quicken Loans National when many players were hitting driver. No matter — he still pull-hooked it into the gallery, hit his second shot into a greenside bunker and lipped out a 5-footer for par before slamming his putter against his bag.
On the third hole, he missed the green well left and had to get up-and-down for bogey. A threeputt on No. 4 left him 3 over.
It was his final bogey of the day.
Woods got a fortunate deflection off a marshal left of the green on the par-5 fifth. He apologized, handed out an autographed glove and made his first birdie. Then he ran off five birdies in six holes around the turn for a 3-under-par 68. That left him five shots behind leaders Retief Goosen and Ryo Ishikawa at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
Former Baylor School standout Harris English shot a 1-under 70.
Woods said it was the first time since the Masters in April that he’s turned a bad round into a good one.
“That’s what scoring is all about,” Woods said. “I made a lot of key putts today. I ran them by the hole but I made all the comebacks, and overall I felt like I hit the ball well enough to turn it around. It was nice to actually turn it around.”
Woods is the host of the Quicken Loans National, which he won in 2009 and 2012 at Congressional in Maryland. The last of his 79 PGA Tour victories was nearly two years ago, and he has plummeted to 266th in the world.
Woods got up-and-down from a greenside bunker for birdie on the par-5 eighth. He made a 9-footer on 10 and a 7-footer on 11. He hit his approach to tap-in range on 12, the most difficult hole on the course, and ended the run with a 12-footer on 13. He two-putted for par on the final five holes.
The 68 was only his sixth round under 70 this year.
Trump steals show
TURNBERRY, Scotland — Donald Trump’s show-stealing arrival Thursday at the Women’s British Open upstaged Hyo-Joo Kim’s latest strong start in a major championship.
The 18-year-old South Korean player was midway through a 7-under 65 in the first round when Trump, the American presidential candidate, landed in a private helicopter to begin a two-day visit at the tournament at his Turnberry resort in western Scotland.
The fourth-ranked Kim, who shot a first-round 61 in winning the Evian Championship in her major championship debut last year, had a one-stroke lead over Lydia Ko and Cristie Kerr.
Top-ranked Inbee Park began her bid to complete a career sweep of the majors by shooting 69.