Tiger Woods finishes with a wild back nine at THE PLAYERS Championship
Tiger Woods didn’t get everything he wanted out of the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship. After a wild back nine, he still finds himself in solid position with a much friendlier tee time scheduled for Friday’s session.
Tiger Woods still has a chance at THE PLAYERS Championship after posting a first round 70 on Thursday afternoon. Playing with defending champ Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed, Woods managed an up and down round that included six birdies and four bogeys.
“The wind was blowing early, died down at the end, and (we) felt like we could capitalize a little bit on our back nine,” Woods said to media after his round.
That’s exactly what he did.
Woods’ round featured birdies on one of the par fives on the back nine of the challenging TPC Sawgrass course, but he could not birdie either one on the front. He also made birdie at the 12th, the driveable par 4, with a shot that landed just short of the green.
The island 17th was also good to him. There, he hit a shot that just barely made the putting surface and followed that with a 13-foot, seven-inch putt for birdie.
“I felt like I could have got something in the 60s today,” he said.
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The former world number one confessed that he made some bad shots early in the round, but said he adjusted and improved his score on the incoming nine.
He was confident with his putter, as well, something that had been lacking in some of his previous starts.
“I felt like I rolled it today,” he said. “I felt like I was able to get up there, and I felt comfortable. I was able to rip it, and I felt pretty good.”
He said that his putting adjustment has been more to get back to what he used to do rather than to make a big change.
“I putt with the toe moving and toe releasing,” he explained. “My (putter) face moves a lot more than most players do, and we just went back to that.”
That motion allows him to hit putts more with his right hand.
“That’s how I’ve always putted,” he added. “I always had a lot of hit in my stroke, and that felt good again.”
On Friday, Woods plays early and should get the benefit of less windy conditions as sea breezes materialize, typically in the afternoon in northeast Florida.
“Hopefully we can catch it on the calm side and (have) some smoother greens and get it — post a low number and then see if the guys have to face what we had to face in the afternoon with the wind moving pretty good,” Woods said, looking forward to round two.
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A two-time champion at THE PLAYERS Championship, Tiger Woods certainly has course knowledge. He is the only golfer in the field who has won both in March and in May. We’ll see if he can use some of that to his advantage, along with that friendly tee slot, on Friday.