Tiger Woods off to better start than in past
By Javier Solano / The Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO -- How close is the season's first major? Set your
watch by Tiger Woods, revving up for his title defense at The
Masters in three weeks with a quick start at Bay Hill.
Through four top-10 finishes in five PGA Tour starts this season,
the variable in Tiger Woods' game has been the first round, posting
four opening cards in the 70s. He produced a cliffhanger on Thursday,
4-under par through 11 holes and standing over an eagle putt when
afternoon storms suspended play.
Like 70 other players who were still on the course, Woods'
first round is now a two-part episode. When play resumes this
morning at 8:30, he will be 40 feet away from 6-under. Only Phil
Mickelson, Bay Hill's defending champion, eagled No. 12 last year.
"Making that would be a great way to start the day,"
Woods, 22, said. He put himself in position for eagle after a
337-yard drive and a 230-yard poke with a 4-iron.
Woods, the 1997 PGA Tour money leader and a 9th-place finisher
here last year, birdied three of the first four holes. The only
green he missed was No. 8, where Woods saved par from 15 feet.
He played three of Bay Hill's four par-5s, reaching each of them
in two strokes, before the sirens halted play.
"The rain delays do not really bother me that much,"
Woods said. "As long as we get the chance to stretch and
warm up a little, I am fine. I guess it helps that I'm young,
too."
So far this year, Woods has won a tournament in Thailand and
been close at home, posting a pair of second-place finishes and
one third in his first three full PGA events. Of his seven weekend
rounds in 1998, five have been in the 60s.
"I'm just hoping to peak at the right time," Woods
said. "That's it. I know I need to work on a few things,
and I'm working on them right now. But I've got to take care of
two tournaments before then (The Masters) -- two very important
tournaments."
(c) 1998, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
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