It’s rough stuff for Tiger
BETHESDA, Md. — Congressional Country Club underwent several changes for the 2011 U.S. Open, which Tiger Woods missed because of left Achilles and knee injuries. On Thursday in the first round of the AT&T National, he got his first real taste of the alterations under tournament conditions.
Woods toiled through 90-degree afternoon heat — it’s only going to get hotter with each passing day — laboring to a 1-over-par 72 finish. He is tied for 30th, five shots behind Bo Van Pelt, whose 4-under 67 has him alone atop the leaderboard.
“It’s a great test,” said Woods, who said he feels like he’s playing a third U.S. Open this year after playing at Bay Hill in March, where he won, and at Olympic two weeks ago. “I was talking to Nick (Watney) and (his caddie) Chad (Reynolds) and they were saying, ‘At least dur- ing the Open you can get the ball to land on the green from the rough.’ They had graduated rough. There’s no graduated rough here this week. If it’s not in the fairway, then it’s in the deep stuff. So it’s a different setup; it’s hard and fast. We have to be careful a lot of times, and when you have an opportunity to be aggressive you’ve got to do it.”
Woods looked frustrated on the front nine as he struggled off the tee, missing five of seven fairways, including four straight on three through six. He recovered for par on No. 3, although he bogeyed the par-4 fourth after putting his first two shots in the rough.
Woods notched his first birdie on the par-5 ninth to get back to even, finally showing a hint of a smile after sinking a four-foot putt.
Two holes later he bogeyed the par-4 11th after another missed fairway. A risky second shot left him well short of the green and he eventually two-putted.
“I was thinking about hitting a little 9-iron in there and trying to land it halfway there and run it,” Woods said. “I took a chance and hit sand wedge and landed it short of the green and tried to skip it with some spin on it.”
Woods sank a 14-foot birdie putt on No. 14 to return to even, but bogeyed the next hole, where he had trouble getting out of a bunker.