Hot-putting Tiger grabs share of lead
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Somehow, on a blistering Thursday just outside the City of Brotherly Love, Tiger Woods pumped up the thermometer.
With an old friend in the bag, not to mention four extra golf shirts, Woods scorched ancient Aronimink Golf Club with an 8-under-par 62 in the first round of the BMW Championship, the third leg of the FedExCup Playoffs.
With temps hitting the high 90s and fans clamoring for any piece of shade, Tiger was in vintage form as everything from the driver to his putter was on point. He missed just two greens in regulation, and on a day when the ball was flying because of the heat, Woods and others turned this mighty ballpark into a driver-wedge, pitch-and-putt track as he unleashed his driver, again a weapon, for 12 tee shots in the range of 300 to 340 yards.
Woods was at his best as the temps started to spike about noontime. Starting on the 10th, he made birdies from 20, 15 and 10 feet in his first four holes, ripped a 3-iron from 230 to 6 feet for an eagle on his eighth hole and added a birdie from 4 feet on his ninth hole to turn in 29, his first sub-30 score for 9 holes in 11 years.
A birdie from 13 feet on his 10th hole brought a 59 watch. After he cooled a bit with pars on his next five holes, Woods wiped out his lone bogey on the 17th hole with birdies from 9 inches on his 16th hole and from 8 feet on his last hole.
“Biggest takeaway? Made some putts,” said Woods, who put his trusty Scotty Cameron Newport II putter, the one he used to win 13 of his 14 majors, back in the bag. It was the third putter switch he has made in three events.
Don’t expect another change anytime soon.
“I’ve been monkeying around with it back home,” Woods said. “I know the release point and I know how it swings and my body morphed into a position where it understands where it needs to be to release the putter.
“I’ve hit hundreds of millions of putts (with it). I’ve had it since ’ 99. My body just remembers it.”
After the round, however, perhaps because of the toll the heat took on him — he changed shirts four times, after all, and went through four towels — Woods was a bit subdued despite being in
prime position to win for the first time since 2013.
He was a tad tempered despite grabbing a share of the lead after the opening round for the first time since the 2013 World Golf ChampionshipsCadillac Championship. He sits atop the leaderboard with Rory McIlroy, who made 10 birdies. A shot back is Xander Schauffele, who’s making a push to be the final pick for the Ryder Cup team.
Nor was Woods jumping for joy despite posting his lowest round of his comeback season, besting by two shots the score he signed for after the final round of the PGA Championship. Nor was he high-fiving anyone after coming within one shot of equaling his career low round.
Maybe he was just conserving energy. Woods didn’t play in Wednesday’s pro-am, a rarity, and instead did a light workout in the gym and watched a lot of the US Open tennis on TV.
That’s his MO now — play golf, get plenty of rest, keep the weight on. This is his fifth start in six weeks, and assuming he qualifies, he’ll play The Tour Championship and Ryder Cup in backto-back after next week’s off week.
“More than anything right now, I just have to make sure I get enough rest and recovery time,” Woods said. “It’s hard for me because I lose so much weight out here. I don’t eat enough calories. Therein lies the issue.
“I lose so much weight and lose strength and I lose power and endurance. It’s a task. It always has been my entire year, playing in hot conditions trying to keep my weight.”
Woods and the field won’t get much time to rest. Tee times have been moved up four hours for Friday because of impending storms.
Either way, he’ll be ready, especially with his trusted ally by his side.