The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Tiger has a rough go in return to PGA Tour
Tiger Woods had a rough return to the PGA Tour on Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open. Woods dropped six shots in a six-hole stretch and finished with a birdie for a 4-over 76.
Tiger Woods had a rough return to the PGA Tour on Thursday in San Diego. A slow one, too. Woods, playing in a PGA Tour event for the first in 17 months, fell apart on the back nine of the South course at Torrey Pines and wound up with a 4-over 76, leaving him in danger of missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open.
He was 11 shots behind Justin Rose, who shot a 65 on the shorter North Course.
Along with fighting his swing — he didn’t hit a fairway after No. 7 — and coping with thick rough he had not seen in some time, Woods said he had a hard time adjusting to the pace of play from being in threesomes for the first time since he last played a PGA Tour event in August 2015.
His game was greater concern than having to wait.
This was a battle from the start, when his opening tee shot went into the right rough and he hit a big cut closer to the gallery than the green. Woods did well to keep his score from getting out of hand early, with four tough par saves on the front nine to limit the damage.
He started the back nine with 10-foot birdie putts on the 10th and 11th holes, and with two par 5s ahead of him, starting to believe this could be a strong start. But starting with No. 12, he played the next six holes in 6 over, with a double bogey on the 15th hole the biggest blow.
Woods snap-hooked his tee shot over the crowd and into a deep ravine, letting the driver fall from his hands in disgust. He couldn’t immediately find his ball amid sand dunes and ice plants, instead finding a spot to take his penalty drop. He hooked a long iron through eucalyptus trees into more rough and couldn’t get it closer than 20 feet.
LPGA
Brittany Lincicome shot a tournament-record 9-under 64 to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s season-opening Pure Silk Bahamas Classic in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Lincicome played a sixhole stretch at Ocean Club in 6 under, capping the run with an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole. She added birdies on 11, 14 and 15, and had only 24 putts. The 31-year-old American won the 2015 ANA Inspiration for her second victory in the major and the last of her six LPGA Tour titles.
U.S. Solheim Cup teammate Stacy Lewis was two strokes back along with Megan Khang and P.K. Kongkraphan. Lewis is winless since June 2014.
Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn had a 75. She won five times last season and took the LPGA Tour player of the year award. Topranked Lydia Ko is skipping the tournament.
Qatar Masters
Wales’ Bradley Drege shot an 8-under 64 in calm conditions to take a oneshot lead in the Qatar Masters.
Finland’s Mikko Kornohen of Finland had a 65 at Doha Golf Club. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell wasd another stroke back along with Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and England’s Nathan Kimsey.