Tiger Woods Opens With 69 In Defense Of His Bay Hill Title

Mar 27, 2011; Orlando, FL, USA; Tiger Woods plays from under the trees on the ninth hole during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club

Tiger Woods had it to -4 under par at one point as action got underway on Thursday at The Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Tournament at Bay Hill. Woods teed off in the early session and began on the back nine. He picked up an early birdie in the cool conditions at the 12th hole, and made the turn at one under par with an eagle 4 at the par five 16th hole, and two consecutive bogeys at 17 and 18.

He got a nice hat trick of birdies beginning at the fourth hole before giving one back at seven. He would finish with a -3 under 69 on the day. Conditions are said to be improving, and the defending champion should have a little easier track on Friday.

Tiger has two wins on the year, at The Farmers Insurance earlier in the year, and a solid win at the WGC-Cadillac Championship two weeks ago at Doral. He is looking to capture his eight title at what seems to be one of his favorite course, and tournaments. If he is able to win this week, he will assume the number one ranking in the OWGR, a position where he has not been since October of 2010. He spent 281 weeks as number one during that period which began back in 2005, and a 264 week domination from August 1999 until September 2004.

Playing partner, Justin Rose battled Tiger all day, and prevailed with the early lead at -7 under par for the day. The third partner, Ernie Els, didn’t fare well, and ended his day at +3 over par. Tiger once again wasn’t hitting the ball too well, and let his putter bail him out. He went directly to the practice range after his round, and worked on his flaws with coach Sean Foley.

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