Friday, August 25, 2000
Off to a roaring start: Woods
leads by 1 after 64
By Marla Ridenour
Knight Ridder Newspapers
AKRON, Ohio — So much for the hangover
theory.
After his emotional and dramatic playoff
victory Sunday in the PGA Championship, Tiger Woods showed he
was still riding a confidence high in Thursday's first round of
the NEC Invitational.
Carried by his exceptional putting when
his driver failed him, Woods eagled the second hole and carded
a 6-under-par 64 at Firestone Country Club to take a 1-shot lead
over Jim Furyk.
But at least after 18 holes, the $5 million
tournament doesn't appear to be setting up for a Woods runaway.
Fifteen players are within 4 shots of the lead. Tied at 4 under
are Darren Clarke, Justin Leonard, Phillip Price, Lee Westwood,
Carlos Franco and Phil Mickelson. Then there are Stuart Appleby,
Ernie Els, Loren Roberts and Jose Maria Olazabal, who are at 3
under. Paul Azinger, Mike Weir, Greg Norman and Hal Sutton are
2 under.
With no wind and receptive greens after
Tuesday night's and Wednesday's rain, 23 in the 37-player field
shot par or better in the chase for the $1 million first-place
prize.
Appleby said the possibility of a letdown
by Woods was mere media hype.
“He manages to play, get his job done,
get himself up for the next round the next week, that's what he's
good at,” Appleby said.
Woods took an extra day off after the PGA,
played only six holes in a Wednesday practice round and looked
amazingly refreshed.
“When I'm not playing is the time to
rest,” Woods said. “When I'm playing, it's time to work
and I'm trying to get myself in position to win coming down Sunday
afternoon.”
Woods' pursuers saw his 30 on the front
nine at Firestone on the heels of his 31 on the back nine at Valhalla
and felt like it was the same old story.
“He was 6 under or something like that
and Billy said, `He's off again,'” Clarke said, referring
to a conversation with his caddie. “I said, `Thanks.'”
Appleby had a similar reaction.
“I jokingly said to my caddie, `They
say that on the tour we're playing for more money. There's only
one guy playing for more money. He gets 18 percent for the first
prize. We get the leftovers.'”
Woods started 7 under through the first
12 holes with five birdies and an eagle, hitting a 6-iron from
206 yards within one foot on the second hole. With six to play,
Olazabal's course record of 61 in 1990 seemed within reach. Tying
the PGA Tour record of 59 wasn't out of the question.
“Every time I've gotten off to great
starts, I've never once considered shooting that number,”
Woods said of 59. “I was just trying to put the ball in the
fairway on the (13th) hole. I didn't do a good job of that, put
my ball right behind a root. Not a good spot to be in, but I somehow
made 4.”
Woods ended all talk of breaking 60 with
three pars and a bogey-birdie-bogey finish. At No. 16, he buried
his ball in the back bunker, blasted out short of the green and
chipped 6 feet past. At 18, he hit a driver in the right rough,
hit a tree and the ball came back behind him. He found the green
with an 8-iron and two-putted from 20 feet.
“I drove it terrible on the back nine,”
he said.
“I was able to keep it on the property,
which is good, and that's about it.”
After a couple of comments for television,
Woods headed straight for the driving range.
“I hit a lot of drivers and got it
straightened out,” he said.
Woods wasn't the only one on the leaderboard
who left the 18th green feeling part of his game was in disarray.
Appleby and Westwood were disappointed in their driving.
“I didn't drive the ball particularly
well and I didn't get anywhere near as good a score as I should
have and I shot a 66,” Westwood said. “It happens to
all of us. I'm sure you feel very sorry for me. Let's get the
violins out.”
But Westwood found a putting stroke he'd
been seeking, thanks to a tip Wednesday from Mark O'Meara, his
playing partner at the PGA.
“He approached me on the range and
said I was holding on to the club face a bit too long, needed
to release my arms a bit more,” Westwood said.
Leonard and Furyk also felt they found something
in their rounds.
“At the PGA, I putted very poorly,”
Furyk said. “I needed to go back to basics and put some lines
down on the ground. Get out there and hit a lot of putts and get
everything visually straightened out. I spent a lot of time on
the putting green since the PGA.”
Furyk chipped to within a foot for birdie
at No. 2, then got the putter going with birdie putts at No. 3
(15 feet), 4 (40 feet), 10 (7 feet), 15 (12 feet) and 16 (2 feet).
His lone bogey came after a bad tee shot
on No. 15.
Leonard, in the midst of a disappointing
season that has him 35th on this week's tour money list, said
after he scared some people on the front nine, he hit the ball
well from No. 12 on.
Asked what got him rolling, Leonard said:
“I have no idea. I need to go to the range and figure out
what it was that subconsciously I hit upon.”
(c) 2000, Akron Beacon Journal
(Akron, Ohio).
Visit Akron Beacon Journal Online at http://www.ohio.com/.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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