| AP Sports Headlines |
Friday, July 19, 2002
By Mark Whicker
The Orange County Register
GULLANE, Scotland – This Old Course opened its doors wide Thursday, but few of the world's best players stepped across the threshold.
Consequently, Tiger Woods was able to bump along to 1-under-par 70 in the first round of the British Open and stay three strokes out of the lead.
Amid Muirfield's faint winds and balmy sunshine, the self-deprecating Duffy Waldorf cashed three birdies on the back nine and set the first-round pace at 67. PGA champion David Toms came along in late afternoon to tie Waldorf, as did Sweden's Carl Pettersson.
"From what I saw he didn't make a putt all day and still was under par," Toms said of Woods. "He's probably thinking that's about as bad as he's going to shoot."
But even though Woods finished third in his pairing, two strokes behind Shigeki Maruyama and Justin Rose, and 23rd overall, he lost little hope of keeping his Grand Slam campaign alive.
"I hit the ball crisply and cleanly," Woods said. "But I had five or six putts that lipped out (witnesses counted three), which was frustrating because I hit most of them at the right speed. That's OK. If I keep putting that well, some of those putts will fall."
Woods also expressed hope that the weekend weather forecast was accurate. "They say it's going to rain tomorrow, and I like playing in tough conditions because if you shoot a good round you move up," he said. "A lot of places on our tour you shoot 67 and you get lapped."
Waldorf called it "an American tour" type of day, but Muirfield held up well, thanks to challenging pins and slow greens.
"If you were out here just playing golf, you'd be using driver-wedge instead of 3-iron and 6-iron," Toms said. "But you're playing the British Open, and you're hitting medium-to-long shots into greens with pins in tough places."
The Open greeted Woods rudely. A photographer bothered him on the first tee, and he backed off and never fully regrouped. He flew his drive into bunchy rough on the right side. "I saw the lie and thought anything better than double bogey would be good," Woods said. Instead he somehow gouged the ball onto the fairway and saved par.
"That photographer might have had a heavy finger," Woods said.
Waldorf did not qualify for the British until he finished fifth at Chicago two weeks ago and was not planning to try if he didn't. He has played in only five British Opens and has not finished higher than fifth in a major.
Earlier this week a British newspaper proclaimed "a Duffy Waldorf will not win the Open."
"He may be right," Waldorf said, "but he didn't say he (Waldorf) may not lead at the Open.
"I don't define myself by how many tournaments I win (he has won four). I go out there and try to enjoy my game, and if it means finishing first, 15th, 30th or 80th, that's fine."
The UCLA alum did shoot 62 at Disney World in 2000 to win, overtaking Woods among others.
Mostly he's famous for his incandescent golf shirts and caps and the messages he writes on his golf balls. Asked to describe his blue-and-white flowered shirt and cap he wore Thursday, Waldorf said, "Matching."
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© 2002, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).
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